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Journey From Milan To PhuketMarco (Pseudo name) Journey from Being a Fashion Photographer in Milan to a Scuba Instructor in Phuket "Being HIV doesn't only need physical care but psychological support" Marco exclaims. When did you discover that you are gay Its a long story, when I was in Milano, Italy. I discovered I am gay since I was 8 years old, together with some of my classmates. I grew up with my interest in photography and started my career as a fashion photographer and video making in Milan. How and when did you get Infected 14 years ago, my life was very sad and I was going through major depression. I ignored my health and body and started taking drugs. After a long holiday in the US, I returned to Europe to make a comeback. I remember one night in Europe, my friend offered me a pill, not sure what it was but seemed to me like ecstasy and I popped it without thinking a bit. The purpose of that meeting was casual sex and I preferred ejaculating while being high on drugs. But who knew that would be The night that changed everything in my life. What were the symptoms and how did you cope with the situation? After a couple of weeks my skin reacted abnormally, I had pimples, rashes all over my body and had fever and high temperature. Fortunately I contacted my hospital in Italy which offered me great support and highly qualified doctors who diagnosed me. On the first day of my HIV test I tested negative, on the second day it seemed unpredictable and on the third day it was confirmed that I was HIV positive and nothing could change this fact. I was devastated and had no idea how to carry on with my life. The beginning was horrific, ARV side effects were driving me crazy. I had vomiting, diarrhea and couldn't eat anything. However what I learnt was that having HIV was the second chance given to me by God to live my life. It was not death but another chance for me to change my sexual behavior and attitude towards life if I wanted to survive. My viral load got down from 780,000 to 78 in 1 month after medication. Why did you choose Thailand I was working in Egypt, where I underwent huge stigma and discrimination. Not only as a gay but as a HIV positive. I decided to move to a place where I could live my life peacefully. And the first thing that came to my mind was Thailand where everyone accepts you the way you are and the people are so generous. I started my new life being a scuba instructor in Phuket, south of Thailand. Now Im running in to the third year of my stay in Phuket. I met my boyfriend in the first week of arrival in Phuket, when I met him I noticed one thing that struck me, and that was the ignorance in young Thai community about HIV. When I informed my boy friend that I was HIV +, in the beginning he had no idea what to say. When he asked why I disclosed, I said I love you and want to make you aware so that one more person shouldn't't get infected because of Ignorance. So we play safe everytime we have sex and are very happy being together. What kind of diet do you follow One thing about HIV is that you have to take care of yourself and follow your body. You lose fat so you have to work out a lot and keep on building your muscles. I eat Thai food but avoid fried food and eggs because of my weak liver after taking ARV medications. I eat fish, rice and lots of vegetables. So I eat a normal meal and follow my daily schedule. I never forget to take my medications on time which includes 3 pills (Truvada). I have medication support from Italy and carry a huge case of medications. Tell us something about living with HIV and medication adherence. The old medication doesn't work effectively if you are not adherent, the virus keeps on multiplying. This is very important as the virus that has mutated to become drug resistant can be especially hard to eliminate. In the past 12 years I have changed the medication 4-5 times not because of improper adherence but side effects. I do not smoke or drink alcohol and go to the Gym everyday, in a way my life has changed totally. Im more responsible person. The virus in Asia is different fro the virus in Africa, US and Europe. Asian and African virus is stronger than the one I have( as I have being told), so I have to be extra cautious of my sexual activity in order to avoid a coinfection that could lead me to a worse state of taking other medications to control the new virus. I am very happy with my life and I absolutely believe that people with HIV can live a healthy and long life same as normal people. I enjoy my job as a scuba instructor and love living my life. Your message to the authorities My message to the authorities and Adam's Love is to increase the awareness in the schools, among the MSM community. If we want the future to be safe, we need to target the young generation Many Thanks to Marco for this contribution Now Marco is 46 and he enjoys his life in Phuket |
