Her Ex-Husband Gave Her HIV In 1990 And Lied About It, And She’s Sharing Her Story To Break The Stigma
In 1990, TikToker Jennifer (@positivejen) found out that her ex-husband gave her HIV and lied about it. At the time, they were on active duty in the Marine Corps, and he was getting tests done ahead of being sent overseas to the first Persian Gulf War.
Apparently, he tested positive for HIV and did not tell her. He was transferred to the Naval Hospital in San Diego, California.
A week later, she went down there to visit him. She pushed the button in the elevator to go to the top floor, and when she stepped off the elevator, she saw HIV posters plastered on the walls.
That’s when she realized she had walked into an HIV ward. Her ex-husband still did not admit to her that he had HIV.
He just refused to talk to her. So, Jennifer returned to her unit and told them she needed a test. It was a Sunday, and tests weren’t usually done on Sundays, but they managed to find someone to give her the test.
She had to wait almost 60 days for her test results. It took 30 days for the results to come in and another 30 days for her unit to figure out how to tell her that she tested positive for HIV.
Jennifer was only 20 years old when she received the diagnosis and was told to get her affairs in order. She was given two years left to live because she had such a low T-cell count.
Now, it has been 35 years, and she has been able to have a normal life. She had kids and was married to an HIV-negative man for 30 years. When they got together, he knew about her health and thought he would end up taking care of her one day.
However, they discovered that he had a bad heart 13 years into their relationship. He lived for another 17 years after that and passed away just last year.
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Despite her diagnosis, she has managed to live a full and amazing life. Her ex-husband is also still alive.
By sharing her story, Jennifer hopes to break the stigma surrounding AIDS and bring awareness to what living with an AIDS diagnosis is like.
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