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2,557 Days

Submitted on Aug 14, 2025 by  Cupcake80

🌅2,557 Days🦋

🕯️
I don't remember the coma.
I remember the waking.

I remember the sterile light.
The machines.
The quiet storm of medical voices around me.

And I remember hearing the words that would change everything:

"You have HIV. HIV3 to be exact."

That's what they said—HIV3.
I didn't even know what that meant.

It would take weeks of recovery,
months of questions,
and years of unlearning before I understood:

💔 HIV3 meant AIDS. 💔

No one explained it.
No one softened it.

I had to go find the truth on my own—
and then learn how to live with it.

It took me nearly three years to say it out loud:
I live with AIDS.

But I say it now with power.
With pride.
With purpose.

🌈✨🌈

⋆✩☀︎ A Life Reborn ☀︎✩⋆

2,557 Days Later

This week marks seven years since that moment—
since I came back from the edge of death,
cracked open by a diagnosis I never saw coming.

In those 2,557 days, I have done what many said I wouldn't.

💪 I've lived.
💗 I've healed.
🩹 I've stumbled—
and gotten back up.

I've rebuilt a relationship with my body.
I've learned to trust my intuition.

I've faced grief, heartbreak, stigma, and silence—
and still, I kept going.

🌿 I became a grandmother.
🌕 I deepened my spiritual journey.
💑 I found a partner who loves me through it all.
🗣️ And I started telling my story—
so other women living with HIV wouldn't have to suffer in the dark like I once did.

🕊️⋆。°✩ 💌 ⋆。°✩🕊️

💫🖊️Full-Circle Moment🖊️💫

A New Chapter Begins

This week, on the exact anniversary of my awakening,
I signed a contract that feels like a full-circle moment:

🖊️✨ I'm now a contributing blogger for A Girl Like Me,
a global blog by and for women living with HIV.

After years of being silenced, stigmatized, and almost forgotten,
I'm stepping into a space where my voice is medicine.

This isn't just about writing—
it's about reaching the woman who's just been diagnosed and doesn't know what comes next.

It's about holding space for the woman who's afraid to say "HIV/AIDS" out loud.

It's about reminding us all:

We are still here.
We are still worthy.
And we are not alone. 💖

❃✧Healing is Resistance✧❃

This Is What Survival Looks Like

I used to think survival meant just breathing.
Now I know—

Survival means choosing to show up
in a world that told you not to.

So today, I write.
🫶 For myself.
💌 For every woman who's still finding her voice.
🕊️ And for the girl I used to be—
who needed to know this life was still possible.

ꕥ✩🌙 She Rises 🌙✩ꕥ

📝 I Didn't Die

By Cupcake — For Every Girl Like Me

🕯️
I didn't die—
Though my body broke
Under years of weight
And silence spoke

I didn't die—
Though shame ran deep
And stigma tried
To make me weak

I didn't die—
Though fear was loud
And HIV
Was wrapped in shroud

I didn't die.
I rose instead.
I learned to live.
I faced the dread.

I didn't die.
I grew my voice.
I built my peace.
I made a choice.

I didn't die—
And now I write
For every girl
Who stays up nights

I didn't die.
And neither will you.
There's power here—
In living true.

🌼💫🌼

🪷 To the girl I was:
We made it. 💞

🔥 To the world that gave up on me:
Watch me now. 🔥


This blog was originally posted on Wreckage & Rebirth

Submitted by Marcya Gullatte
2

Cupcake,

I love  reading your blog.  You started from a broken body and grew like a Phoenix into a beautiful story of strength and courage. Thank you for sharing your blog with us and continuing to flame on.

Marcya 

 

 

Submitted by Cupcake80
1

Thank you so much, Marcya! Your words mean the world to me. I truly identify with the phoenix analogy and actually have a phoenix tattoo as a reminder of my own journey. Your comment is a beautiful and meaningful reminder to "flame on." Thank you for the incredible support!

Submitted by Lynette Trawick
2

Cupcake,

This was so beautifully and thoughtfully written. I resonated deeply with so much of it. When you spoke about receiving the initial diagnosis and how it was not softened, my heart went back to November 18, 2008, when I received my own diagnosis. I am not sure that any way they could have delivered it would have softened the blow. Still, I do understand how it can feel harsh. Thank you for sharing your life and your heart with us.

Submitted by Cupcake80
1

Wow, thank you so much for this beautiful comment. Hearing that my words resonated with you means the world, especially coming from someone who truly understands this experience. It's incredible how our stories can connect us.

November 18, 2008... that date is now in my heart alongside my own. You're right, there might not be a "soft" way to receive a diagnosis, but the way it's delivered still matters.

Thank you for being so open and for sharing a piece of your own journey with me. It's people like you who remind me why I share my story.

 

💜 🧁 

Submitted by Ci Ci
1

This is such a beautiful piece. Honestly, I had that same question, too. HIV3? And then you had to go figure out what that meant on your own? See, this is how we usually learn - from each other. I'm sorry that you had to go through that and also grateful that you have gained your strength back and are willing to share that with us. Here's to a million more days!

Submitted by Marig2016
2

The way you turned pain into power and silence into voice is beautiful. Seven years of resilience, growth and now stepping into this new chapter as a blogger it’s inspiring beyond words! Im so proud of you!!! I know so many in our community are grateful for your courage to share and educate cause HIV3… that’s new to me. Your story will reach the very women who need to know they’re not alone. Congratulations on this full circle moment 💖


 

Submitted by Cupcake80
1

Thank you, Mari — that truly means so much.

I can admit now that I was incredibly uneducated at the time.

Yes, HIV3 was the diagnosis given to me. In another blog, I share the story of the night I blasted it out on social media — just three weeks after receiving that diagnosis. Almost immediately, my husband’s family attacked me, saying I had AIDS and accusing me of hiding it and trying to infect my (now ex-) husband. They had started researching what “HIV3” meant as soon as I called him to tell him. I hadn’t done that yet. I was fresh off life support, paralyzed, still trying to process everything, and just listening to the doctors.

During my second hospitalization (at a different teaching hospital connected to the new ID doctors I had just started seeing), I overheard a student in the background say I had AIDS. That’s when I finally asked the doctor and his team. The group of students explained it to me 😭— and that moment pushed me to begin a deep dive into learning everything I possibly could.

 

Now I share and educate others as much as I can 

Submitted by JustineDD
2

Again you have overcome so many things. Living in your true power of your voice. I find too often people receive their diagnosis from those who are so detached from HIV. The fact you had to research the information yourself is the reason why I do my best to explain all things to my patient. Thank you for being a voice and sharing. 

Submitted by Cupcake80
2

Thank you so much for saying that 💕. You’re right — too many of us are handed life-changing news by people who are detached, rushed, or simply not mindful of the weight of their words. It leaves us scrambling to fill in the gaps ourselves. I’m so grateful for providers like you, like the care team I have now, who take the time to really explain, guide, and care beyond the diagnosis. That compassion makes all the difference. And thank you for encouraging me to keep using my voice—it means the world. 🙏

 

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