The Common Thread
Living with HIV & AIDS in Alaska
 HIV & AIDS do not discriminate. Not even Eskimo Power could protect me. I’m a 43-year-old Alaska Native man who has been living with HIV for nearly half my life. If I could do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t have been so casual about sex and the use of drugs. It’s been a terrible price to pay for a few hours of fun. -Leslie
Raised in Alaska, Leslie lived in San Francisco during the height of the early AIDS epidemic. “In the early 1980’s, it was very new,” he says, “and we didn’t know what HIV was. I went into denial when AIDS came on the scene. I didn’t want to hear about it.” Today, Leslie’s message to others is: “Be safe. Don’t waste time. Enjoy life and get the support you need.”
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