Long term survivor living with HIV nearly 3 decades after diagnosis: "We're still here"
NEW YORK -- We continue our coverage of AIDS Walk New York with a focus on long-term survivors, those who were diagnosed before 1996.
CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas introduces us to a man who beat the odds.
"They started me on AZT. That was the only medicine available back then, and I would take handfuls of AZT every day," David Boger told Cline-Thomas. "I would eat my cereal with AZT on top of it."
"Poison pills" are what Boger called them. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1993. Later, an infection landed him in the hospital, and doctors said he had six months to live.
"I thought, well I'm going to die at some point anyway, at least now I know when it's going to be," Boger said. "The hard part was at night when you go to sleep, you lie down in bed and think 'I'm going to be dead in six months.' Very disorganized and frightening."
At the time, HIV and AIDS were considered a death sentence. The diagnosis also coming with devastating stigma.
"The '80s and '90s, no medication, no treatment. To then having one or two options of treatment," said Douglas Hill, senior director of ACRIA Centers at GMHC, formerly known as the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
Hope came in 1996 as new AIDS cases declined for the first time, after the advent of effective antiretroviral therapies.
Now, nearly half of people diagnosed with HIV in the United States are 50 or older. While one in six new HIV cases were in this group in 2018, those living with the virus for decades are known as long-term survivors.
"Why was I somehow spared this when I could've, should've been dead," Boger said. "The Lazarus syndrome, they call it, when you come back to life and you weren't expected to."
Armed with a sense of purpose Boger and his family raised money to launch a long-term survivors hub at GMHC to expand services for the fastest growing population. The program is now named after Boger and in memory of his longtime partner, Terry Brenneis, who was also HIV positive.
"Being on medication for so long can have physical repercussion to people's kidneys, or bone health, or other type of unforeseen consequences or side effects," said Hill.
Add to that, regular health concerns that come with aging. And the isolation, which COVID only exacerbated.
This year Boger's ailments will keep him from fully participating in AIDS Walk New York, but he's still celebrating.
"That's one of the rallying points for us all, we're still here," he said. "We may seem invisible to you, but we're not."
Still here, living on purpose, honoring so many friends and loved ones who died too soon.
On May 31, GMHC is hosting a national conference for long-term survivors. CLICK HERE for information on the webinar and resources for the over 50 population.