When I was first diagnosed in 2016, I did some research on organizations with a focus on HIV. I came across a group called Youth Across Borders (YAB). YAB is an organization providing youth living with HIV in the USA an opportunity to travel and share space with children also living with HIV at an orphanage in Honduras, and honestly it seemed too good to be true. I wasn't public yet, so I had no one to ask, so I just put it in the back of my brain. Fast forward to 2019, I had honestly forgotten all about this organization. Now public and looking for ways to advocate and share my story, I was...
Marig2016's blog
So I've seriously been thinking... In October, 2015, I started to get REALLY sick. Couldn't hold food down, always nauseous or in the bathroom. Six ER visits and they still couldn't figure it out. GI did several tests, stool samples, the whole nine... still no idea. Two months later they determined my gallbladder needed to be removed. Fast forward to May, 2016, seven months from onset of not feeling well, I was diagnosed as HIV positive. I am PRETTY SURE I was never tested for HIV and I seriously started thinking, were all my issues caused by the introduction of HIV into my system? Was I in...
Since being diagnosed in 2016, regardless of living in silence or loud and proud, I've tried attending anything related to HIV here in Fort Myers
My name is Marissa Gonzalez, originally from New Jersey, now living in sunny Southwest Florida.