Carlos Carmona, 54, has been living with HIV for 28 years. He found out he was HIV positive in 1990 when he was 24 years old after he moved to New York with his partner.
"When I got there, I was negative, but something inside me told me, ‘I had been having unsafe sex,’ and I went three months later, to the Metro Health, and I did test positive," Carmona recalled.
Carmona thought his life was over.
"The first thing I thought is, ‘I'm going to die in the next two, three, four, or five years.’ It was a death sentence," he said.
Tragically for Carmona's partner, he also contracted HIV in 1994. He died after it progressed to AIDS four years later.
"He passed away in '98 and I came to San Antonio in '98," Carmona said.
But during that time, major medical advancements gave Carmona hope and a new lease on life.
"In '92 or '93, there were some new medicines that had been put out. Anti-retroviral therapy became available in 1997,” Carmona explained
"HIV was something that was very very serious and sometimes fatal, to now when most of my patients are on one pill once a day, they can live long and very healthy lives," said Dr. Barbara Taylor, an associate professor of infectious diseases at UT-Health and staff physician with University Health System.
She says that Carmona is doing everything right for his health.
"He takes great care of himself. I've never known him to miss a pill, and he goes to the gym every day," Dr. Taylor said.
Working with organizations like the Ryan White Planning Council and the End Stigma End HIV Alliance, Carmona is an advocate working to end HIV stigma and the spread of the disease.
"HIV is not just a gay man’s disease. Anyone can get it,” Carmona added. “Fight the stigma. Tell people to get tested. If you get tested, you can know your status. You can start therapy, and then you can live for a long time."
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