Still a lot of work to do in breaking stigmas says Cree man living with HIV – APTN

December 3, 2015

Ken Ward didn’t think it could happen to him. But in 1989 it did. That’s when he was diagnosed with HIV. Ward instantly went into survival mode.

“The news itself was traumatizing,” said Ward, now 57, who had contracted HIV from using a dirty needle. He was given just three to six months to live.

It was while combing through a mixed “bag of emotions” of comprehending the situation when for a moment he thought of ending his life.

“I figured I had two options. Either kill myself with a cocktail of drugs and a needle and say, ‘What’s the use?’…but I thought about it and said, ‘No, I think I want to try this other side of life, maybe I owe it to myself to walk this path to live the best I can with the quality of life I do have left to live clean and sober.’”

Read More: http://aptn.ca/news/2015/12/03/still-a-lot-of-work-to-do-in-breaking-stigmas-says-cree-man-living-with-hiv/