30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial:
Bradford McIntyre HIV+ 29 years
May19, 2013
“Good evening!
My name is Bradford McIntyre.
On behalf of AIDS Vancouver and sponsoring organizations, welcome to the 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.
In Solidarity: A Musical Tribute to People Infected and Affected by HIV and to those we have lost to AIDS.
Currently, I am in my 3rd year serving as Vice Chair, on the Board of Directors of AIDS Vancouver (aidsvancouver.org), established in 1983. For nearly 20 years, I have been an advocate/activist for creating HIV and AIDS awareness through all venues: events, media, conferences, seminars, documentaries and speaking engagements. I am the founder and operator of the internationally recognized HIV/AIDS information and resource website, Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS, www.positivelypositive.ca, since 2003.
As a long time survivor living with HIV for 29 years, it is my great honour to participate in this Memorial. I feel very fortunate to be here.
I was 32 years old when diagnosed HIV+. The following year, I was told to go home inform my family, arrange my finances and funeral; I had six months to live. Over the years, I was given a death sentence repeatedly. In 1990, I was crippled by neuropathy, a deterioration of the nerves in my legs, a side effect of AZT. And I nearly died! No longer able to stand and work as a hairstylist, I left a successful career behind me.
In 1994, a decade after being diagnosed, I announced publicly on national TV, on the Dini Petty Show, World AIDS Day, December 1st that I was living with HIV.
In 1997, I developed PCP pneumonia and nearly died. And I would have died, had it not been for the new combination therapies that were introduced in 1996 that saved my life. My face was reconstructed in 2004, due to facial wasting/lipoatrophy, caused by both HIV and the side effects of the HIV/AIDS medications. Over the years, I continued to fight illness and disease. Currently, my cd4 count is a healthy 990 and my viral load has been undetectable since 1997.
My partner Deni and I met in 2000 and we married in 2001. On our tenth wedding anniversary in 2011, we were married legally. Treatment is prevention! Deni is not HIV+ and with an undetectable viral load, I am not able to infect.
However, I am still faced with chronic health conditions and new diseases caused by both the side effects of the medications and ageing. At 61 years of age, half of my life has been affected by HIV/AIDS.
In the 30 years since the first case of HIV, over 60 million people have been infected worldwide. There are currently 34 million infected and over 30 million people have died of AIDS. Every year 1.8 million people die of AIDS related diseases and 2.7 million new people become infected. Worldwide, 50% of all HIV infections are women. Annually, at least 390,000 children are born with HIV and 3.3 million people under the age of 15 have the disease and it is estimated that 16 million children have been orphaned by AIDS.
Five million people in the 15 - 30 years age group are infected. One fourth of individuals infected with HIV are not aware that they have the disease. Each hour, 300 people around the world will contract HIV. Treatment is prevention but millions do not have access!
Here in Canada, there are an estimated 78,000 infections. With infections among our women, our youth, our aboriginal communities, our seniors and we are seeing an increase of infections among our GLBT communities. One in four gay men in Vancouver are unaware they are HIV+. HIV Infections here are approximately 8,000, and climbing.
We are not done fighting yet. Today in many places around the world, there are people going through what myself and others went through in the beginning of the epidemic here in Canada.
No care
No treatment
Stigma and discrimination
Human rights violations
The Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not discriminate. We need to stop referring to HIV infections being among HIGH RISK groups, when anyone can be infected through unprotected sex!
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial reminds us of the impact that HIV has on our lives locally and globally. The work is not done yet, not until we have treated all infections and eradicated new infections. The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, coordinated by the Global Network of People living with HIV is one of the world's oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV awareness in the world.
The first memorial was held in San Francisco, in 1983, when HIV and how it was transmitted, was still being discovered. Knowing they would die within the year, four young men (Bobbi Campbell, Bobby Reynolds, Dan Turner and Mark Feldman), put a face on the disease by coordinating the memorial, behind a banner reading, "Fighting for our Lives".
In 1983, four men (Noah Stewart, Gordon Price, Dr. Mike Maynard Ron Alexander-Slater and Daryl Nelson) established the AIDS Vancouver Society (aidsvancouver.org), the first HIV/AIDS service organization in Canada. The 1st AIDS Candlelight Memorial in Vancouver was held in 1984.
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial takes place every third Sunday in May and is led by a coalition of some 1,200 community organizations, in 115 countries. Around 100,000 people worldwide today commemorate the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to support those living with HIV and affected by its impact.
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial is much more than just a memorial. It serves as a community mobilization campaign to raise social consciousness about HIV and AIDS.
This is my 29th year living infected with HIV. I could never have imagined I would be alive today, let alone being a part of the 30th International and 29th Vancouver AIDS Candlelight Memorial.
In Solidarity is the theme of this year's AIDS Candlelight Memorial. The theme emphasizes the need for people living with and affected by HIV to join hands and work together in the response to HIV.
The memorial serves as an important intervention for global solidarity, breaking down barriers of stigma and discrimination and giving hope to new generations. The AIDS Candlelight Memorial is an ideal opportunity and event, which allows people who are affected or infected by HIV to gather together, to mourn losses, to celebrate lives and to give and receive comfort from others.
It is essential that we continue to hear the voices of individuals infected with HIV.
We need renewed commitment and stronger involvement by communities worldwide to carry forward the important educational messages surrounding this ongoing challenge.
We come together on this day to honour the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS, people living with HIV/AIDS and to remember those we have loved and lost to HIV/AIDS.
See We Are ALL Connected.I would like you to take a moment and look around. See each other. See we are all connected! Whether You are affected by, or infected with HIV, we must cross those boundaries of Fear and Discrimination. To Join Our Hearts and Our Hands, in the realization we are ALL here to Love one another. I join with you that we create a shift in thinking around HIV/AIDS and all disease! Love is the way! I am Positively Positive. A Shift in Thinking is Nothing Short of A Miracle!
Moment of Silence
For a few moments let us pause and remember people, who have lost their lives to AIDS.
Continuing to hold an annual AIDS Candlelight Memorial in Vancouver will enable us to remain connected to those who have gone before, to those who are affected today and in the future.
These are reasons for maintaining a memorial event:
• To first and foremost commemorate the people, who lost their lives due to HIV and AIDS
• To demonstrate, through a public event strong support for those living with HIV and AIDS
• To commemorate the people, who experienced stigma and discrimination as a result of their HIV status
• To decrease the stigma related to HIV/AIDS
• To sensitize the community on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS
• To raise our community awareness and involvement
• To advocate for universal access to quality health and social services.
Our time together is growing to a close.
Thank you for coming out and supporting the 30thVancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. Putting it together has been a labour of love!”
Bradford McIntyre
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