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http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/06/20/222...unity.html
Education key in HIV, AIDS prevention, 30 years later
By Brad Dickerson
Brian Hardee wanted to educate other college students about the importance of getting tested for HIV, so he went through the steps himself and presented it as a series of informative speeches.
No one in his speech class will probably ever forget the last one.
"The final speech was how I took the news after the news came back I was HIV positive. So, that's how I found out," Hardee said. "Let's just say I made a 100 in that speech class."
The Myrtle Beach resident was diagnosed with the disease in 1994 while he was a student at the American College for the Applied Arts in Atlanta.
Today, Hardee considers himself a medical miracle. A combination of strong medication and a lifestyle change that included kicking a 10-year drug habit has given him a healthy immune system and longer life than those who were diagnosed with HIV in its early days.
Experts say these stronger drugs are both a blessing and a curse in 2011, 30 years since the first documented cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, in the United States. Those who are diagnosed are living longer, healthier lives, but it's also creating complacency and apathy in the younger people who now find themselves at risk.
The Los Angeles Times reported that AIDS has killed nearly 30 million people worldwide, including an estimated 500,000 in the United States. Today, another 34 million people - including nearly 1.2 million in the U.S. - are living with the virus that causes the disease, human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. This year, about 1.8 million of them will die, including about 17,000 in this country.
By the end of 2010, there were 736 known HIV/AIDS patients living in Horry County, according to statistics from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. There are 356 who have AIDS.
Homosexual males represented the largest number in both categories, with 316 living with HIV and 158 who have AIDS. Heterosexuals and those whose cause was undetermined are the second- and third-largest groups.
Johanna Haynes, executive director of Careteam, an outreach group that provides medical care for HIV and AIDS patients in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, said more than half the new cases she sees are heterosexuals.
At the same time, while infection rates among gay men had declined over the past 15 years, infections among gay men between the ages of 16 and 24 have started to climb again.
"It's that group of people that didn't watch their friends die," Haynes said.
Boxing up lives
Hardee saw the ravaging effects AIDS had among some of his friends while living in Atlanta.
The tragedy of watching them succumb to the disease was compounded by cleaning out their apartments once they were gone.
"I cleaned their lives out, the ones who their parents had disowned them, No. 1, because they were gay, and then when they found out that they were dying ... they were just swept to the side," Hardee said.
Hardee credits his family and an HIV-free partner for supporting and loving him for almost 20 years as he's lived with the disease.
He never saw the diagnosis as a death sentence, but rather a chance to be of service.
"I've never been dying with this, I've always been living with it," Hardee said. "I am very positive about being positive."
He got involved with fundraising efforts in Atlanta. At one point, Hardee and other HIV-positive, 9-5 guys formed a drag group whose sole purpose was to entertain people and raise money. Some years, Hardee said they'd bank more than $1 million dollars to benefit HIV and AIDS patients.
The pain of drugs
The Los Angeles Times reported that at least 30 different drugs are now commercially available to combat HIV. "Cocktails" of these drugs have transformed the disease from a death sentence into something manageable.
But some drugs have side effects.
Hardee said one switch in medicine caused chronic diarrhea. Other side effects include night sweats and vomiting.
Haynes said some patients kick those reactions in three or four weeks. For others, it's a part of life.
Then there are those whose livers are adversely affected, or they develop heart disease.
"We're seeing some of that now, after people have been on medications for a long time and they're having other issues," Haynes said. "Brian's one of the lucky ones who's not affected by that."
Hardee is classified as having undetectable traces of HIV in his body. He said that means the virus is still present, but it's so low there isn't a measurement for it.
Hardee explained it's measured on T-cells, the body's white blood cells that fight off disease. His tend to stay in the 400 to 500-range, a very strong count.
"Below 200 is full-blown," Hardee said. "So, once you go below 200, that just means that you're pretty much susceptible to just about anything. It means your immune system is just depleted."
His strong immune system is even more impressive because of his past drug abuse.
When he moved back to Myrtle Beach from Atlanta four years ago, Hardee sobered up. To hear him tell it, no substance went untried.
"A,B,C,D through Z," he said. Crystal meth was the drug of choice, and Hardee admitted some were taken intravenously.
His habit didn't form out of self-pity over his illness, but rather an active social life.
"Gay life is nightlife," Hardee said. "In a big city, it's all about going out."
An addict with no job and no insurance was what Careteam got when they took Hardee in with what he called "open arms."
Life on the Grand Strand
Today, Hardee is clean and sober and working as a designer in Myrtle Beach.
Since getting involved with Careteam, he has also continued his outreach.
Each year, Hardee hosts the organization's dining-with-friends event and walks in a pair of high heels for the annual AIDS walk.
And he's doing it all with a very good immune system, courtesy of strong drugs that make living with the disease possible.
It's those strong drugs that Hardee and others feel are creating an attitude that people don't have to worry about it if they do contract HIV.
"I've actually heard that before, and I'm like, 'You're so, so, so sadly mistaken,' " Hardee said. "Don't be like me, going on 20 years of taking pills every single day."
Haynes said Careteam's biggest struggle is making people aware of what the risk is.
"We get the word out there, but I think when people hear the word HIV, they just kind of turn it off, because most people think 'HIV is not my problem. That's somebody else's problem. It's one of those people, it's not me,'" she said.
The biggest misconception about HIV has always been that it's just a problem in the homosexual community.
Hardee remembers when the disease was referred to as "gay men's cancer."
Haynes said HIV is a growing problem in the black community.
According to the Center for Disease Control, one in 16 black men and one in 30 black women will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes.
Haynes added that 11 percent of all new infections are in white heterosexuals over the age of 50.
She said those most responsible for spreading HIV are those who have it and don't know it. Like Hardee in his college speech, she stresses the importance of getting tested. Today, those results are available within 10 minutes.
Hardee said he lives his life with an open-door policy, having never been a closeted homosexual or a closeted HIV patient.
It's a lifestyle choice that would probably make that college professor - who called his informative speech one of the most moving she'd ever heard in her class - willing to give him another 100.
"I've always been open and honest with everybody," Hardee said. "Hey, my name is Brian. I'm HIV positive. Let's get that out of the way."
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