It's hard to believe that we're coming up on the 40th anniversary of the first reports of what would come to be known as HIV. My personal journey with HIV began in 1994 when my sister, Ellen, was diagnosed with AIDS—with under 100 T-cells. It was a devastating diagnosis for my family, and the after-effects (including the degree to which her disease was accepted, or not, by those around her, and what she did with that) have had a long-lasting impact on me. After some time, Ellen became an HIV advocate, and I was her biggest cheerleader in rejecting the stigma that was attached to the virus. It was also through the experience of helping her find a support group that the lack of women-focused resources became clear to me.
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