Man has AIDS 31 Years, and Still Living a Full Life!



Roger Chapman, pictured right has had AIDS for 31 years

 Roger Chapman, 58, and a gay black male, was told he would probably die within a year after he was first diagnosed with AIDS 31 years ago, but today, Roger is still alive and kicking. His doctors at the time didn't call Roger's virus HIV or AIDS back then, they called it GRIDS.  In other simpler language it was called gay-related immune deficiency, because gay men were the first in the country to be identified with the symptoms.

Chapman remembers, "In the beginning, it was kind of hard because I didn't want to believe it. I used to get dressed every night and wait for the undertaker to come get me so he would find me nicely dressed," Chapman said.

A former IV drug user, Chapman had some decisions to make regarding his life, or his death.  "It came a point where I had to realize that either I'm going to live or I'm going to die."  Chapman believes that people that have the HIV and AIDS for a long time began self-stigmatization.  "We start internalizing those things people say, 'Oh, you are a drug addict, a homosexual, a street worker,'" Chapman said. "We keep hearing those things and a lot of people take it in and that's how we lost a lot of our brothers and sisters. They started believing and they gave up. They gave up."

Not wanting to be just another statistic, Chapman decided he wanted to live, and slowly let go of his feelings of self-hate.  He now is a leader and client representative at Harlem United, a holistic health care center for people in Harlem living with HIV/AIDS. 

Living with AIDS is not a death sentence.  With proper medication and treatment, people are living long lives.  Although men count for 74 percent of AIDS cases, women are still at risk.  Protection is always the best practice, but persons affected no longer have to feel that their life has ended.  After all, Roger is proof that the virus doesn't have to kill you.  If you decide to live, you may still live a healthy life, 31 years later.