Hi, my name is Janice. I am 47 years old and have been positive since 92. It's hard to believe i'm still alive! Wow, here i am, 18 years later. I have 4 sons, and 4 grandsons, and one little grandaughter that I adopted. Grandbabies #6, #7, and #8 are on the way. I finally found the perfect man for me, he's much younger, but I've been called a cougar for long enough that I earned him! My life has not been better than it is right now..........I hope it last many years.

     Well, I got with a totally hot guy and didn't think about a condom.  A few weeks later, he started beating me.  I thought that was bad.  After 14 months of hell, I got away from him and learned that he not only beat me, but had given me HIV.  My little boys were 1, 4, 8, and 9 when I was infected.  I had given blood 2 weeks before I met him, so I at least knew when I got it.  I was soooo scared, by babies were going to be orphans.  I had divorced both their dads and they were not in the picture at all.  I cried, I cried a lot.  My cousin talked to me and told me she would raise my wonderful little boys.  I kept going to doctors, and my t4's were staying so good.  After about 3 years, when I changed doctors, the new one wondered if a mistake hadn't been made, maybe I wasn't HIV positive after all.  Oh I did a lot of day-dreaming during the next 2 weeks.  The results came back positive again though. 

     Strangely enough, the day finally came when I had to start taking meds.  I thought, now, my life is done.  They will make me so sick I won't be able to live a good life anymore.  Of all days, the same day I picked up my meds from the drugstore, my 2nd oldest son called me and said,"Hi, grandma", I was going to be a grandma.  I had another reason to fight.  That was September 29, 2004.  My baby Braden is 2 and a half.  My 3rd son had a little girl only 4 months later.  I have not been sick one day from the meds, I still feel great.  I worry a good bit about the day they will stop working, but I try not to dwell on that.  I am much to busy chasing my little girl around...a little girl...finally.  The light of my heart. Her name is Raven Paige.