Positive Life NSW

Photo: CASPIX

David

When he was diagnosed with HIV in 1984, David Polson was told he couldn't expect to live more than two years. He was determined that if they were saying two he would get three. It was a big hope as David explains "at the time there were none of the HIV drugs that are now available".

He saw friends succumb to AIDS. "There were seven people at work who died and then when I was visiting a friend with AIDS I looked around the ward and saw four more people I knew."

On top of that it was a hidden illness. "There were no support groups; you didn't tell anyone you had HIV. I tried to remain positive about it even though there were times when you felt helpless. But I have never let the moments last and I have been lucky and never had a diagnosis of AIDS."

At the time of his HIV diagnosis, David did a bit of study and saw that the illness attacked the immune system. He started taking as many health supplements as he could and kept himself as fit as possible.

"People thought I was crazy. But it was a layman's logic and I ignored people who scoffed at me."

As it turned out he had guessed correctly and now exercise and health food play a big role him staying healthy. David also read a self-help book about the power of visualisation and healing. He visualised an image of the HIV virus surrounded by strong immune cells, then love…"love for me, love from my friends and love of life, and all this he surrounded with a band of yellow light for strength".

He put it on the wall of his bedroom and looked at it every day before he went to bed and when he got up.

"I had a mantra 'my immune system is strong and healthy'. Then I cut out anything negative to do with HIV. People might say I was in denial, but it wasn't that. I only wanted positive things in my life. I didn't watch the grim reaper ads and didn't go to sad films. I surrounded myself with humour to keep my mind positive … It was a grim time."

In the early years, he managed to stay working. He was employed at a big hotel in the city. After his diagnosis, he told his boss and moved over to managing the hotel's late night jazz and supper club.

So David survived and as new drugs became available he used his positive personality to get through the dreadful side effects that came as doctors experimented to find the cocktail of drugs that were right for him. "My main side effect has been gut problems and I had dreadful problems with an experimental HIV drug called T20."

"It was wonderful. It controlled the HIV virus, but I got lumps, which were red hot, the size of fist at the injection zone. After two years of having to inject T20 twice daily you can imagine how horrible I looked. But I managed to stay on top of it with the help of small support network of friends."

One of the side effects of the drug regime has been a rare brain disease for which there is no cure. At the moment it is not affecting his life too greatly but it can develop into something more serious down the track.

David has had to give up work and lives on a disability support pension but he is keen to get working on a new project. He is writing a book about his experiences, full, he says, of positive messages and is an active member of the Positive Speakers Bureau. "It will not be talking just about living with HIV but more about overcoming big obstacles in your life."

Another little problem that he is also surprisingly cheerful about is that his superannuation nest egg disappeared due to bad investments made by someone who wasn't as skilled as he said he was. David just shrugs when asked about it. It's all about being positive.

He has taken the step of declaring his HIV status and is very prepared to be a public face of the illness. He wants to get the message across that it is a manageable illness and wants to dispel the stigma and myths surrounding HIV.

Last year he decided to go public and he believes this has already had an impact as people see that it can happen to people like them.

"I tell people about surviving HIV for 25 years. I believe it is a very motivating story. The general world may not be interested in it yet. But I am going to make them. The book is what keeps me going I want people to see that I had a problem and this is what I did to keep me going."