Positive lives and positive stories

In 2003 my father Rick was days away from death. We were living in Lighting Ridge which is north west of Sydney.  My father went to John Hunter hospital and we would stay there with him through out the day but went to a motel at night to sleep. My father Rick stayed at John Hunter hospital for 2 weeks. It was very hard because I was little and my sister was very little that my little sister did not understand but I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was a very very hard time for all of us.

My father and mother  are divorced and are still great friends. My mother and father still care for each other that is great. When my father is sick my mother fills for him and when my mother is sick my father cares for her to. My mother and father have been through a lot together the 12 years they were married. We still look back on those days and say we have been through  a lot of hard times together.

On Saturday the 3rd of September 2011 my father , sister and I went to the Royal Adelaide  show. We went on the dodgem cars 2 times and went in the magic circus it was all fun. We also went on the cliff hanger but my father and my sister did not go on it.  I went on 2 times, 1 time with my friend and her brother and the other time by myself. We spent 500 dollars all up we had fun and saw some of our friends my father saw his friend, my sister saw her friend and I saw my friends. At the end of the day it was raining so we had to go home. The next day we woke up and said “happy fathers day” to my father and we gave him mp3 player and he was so happy and said “thank you”  and I went back to bed then we woke up again 1 hour  later and was feeling very very very sick so was my father but he was better then me. 

At the start i did not know about HIV but then my father told me about the symptom, then he told me how he contracted HIV. At the age of 16 my father Rick contracted HIV from a man named Jeff. Jeff got my father drunk and that is when the infection happened. My father did not know that Jeff had HIV. After 1 and half month’s some of my fathers friends said that people are getting checked for HIV so my father and his friends went and got checked my father’s result was positive. Within a couple of months Jeff died. Jeff had a cancer that was caused by HIV. I love my dad and he will always be special to me. It doesn’t change my feelings about my dad that he has HIV.

My Father Rick has been living with HIV for 23 years. He is a hard working man and loves me and my younger sister dearly and we love him back. My father has been through a lot of hard time and when that happens I help him through it. We live our lives together and we  will always be that way but when he is unwell we may not do fun stuff but no matter what I will always be happy as long as I am with my family.