{"id":26305,"date":"2024-10-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?p=26305"},"modified":"2024-10-28T15:58:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:58:36","slug":"gts-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/","title":{"rendered":"GT’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhen I was 15, I ran away to London and lived there for 35 years. During my time in London, I was living pretty recklessly, and I started running myself into the ground. I mean, I was literally skin and bone, doing things that were really unhealthy for me, and that\u2019s when I thought I need to turn things around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was first diagnosed in 1999, so I am just about 25 years positive. At the start, there was the shock about what it was and what this meant for me. The first three to five years were the most difficult, with just coming to terms with the diagnosis. What I\u2019ve found is you have to not only accept the HIV but make a bond with it. It\u2019s part of you. You shouldn\u2019t hate yourself and you shouldn\u2019t hate the HIV either. Some people when they get diagnosed turn into emotional garbage trucks, and they allow themselves to get caught up in it. Don\u2019t get me wrong, for me it was a bit scary. Previous to that, my subconscious was saying to me \u2018you\u2019re going to be positive before the millennium\u2019, and it turned out that was right. It was just the way it was going for most people around me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen so many people that go off the rails, tons of booze and hard drugs to try and cope thinking that\u2019s a solution. They think the alcohol is killing the HIV but, in the end, it\u2019s killing them. If you try to kill or hate the HIV, you\u2019re going to end up killing and hating yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been back in Glasgow for about ten years now, and I find there\u2019s quite a difference between people\u2019s attitudes towards HIV. People here are a bit more pensive, and you tend to find they use the old terms and assumptions, like they hear you are HIV positive and say, \u2018oh you have AIDS\u2019. There\u2019s still a lot of stigma and shame, even in subtle ways. There are some people that would always give me the same cup when I went round to their flat, and its in those moments when you know what\u2019s going on in someone else\u2019s mind about you. I think some people thought it was like catching the flu. There\u2019s still this idea that it\u2019s an individual issue, whether you become positive through sex or drug use, it\u2019s an individual choice. It doesn\u2019t get the same wider social perspective as other viruses, which is a shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find that I don\u2019t really reveal my status now as often as what I used to, especially in the early days or maybe when I was younger. I just think if you\u2019re unsure about letting people know, then don\u2019t let them know. I don\u2019t think people really don\u2019t need to know unless you\u2019re busy under the sheets with them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m 60 now, and I used to say that I wanted to live longer than my old man, which was 50. So, when I reached 50 I thought, oh god, now what? There was a real chance I could have popped my clogs before I was 50, and now I\u2019m still here! And throughout everything, I\u2019ve maintained the three C\u2019s: Calm, Cool, Collected. Without that, you can run wild with your emotions and become foggy. I personally play my games, some technical very difficult games, and a lot of art therapy which helps me stay chill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to take it one step at a time and try to work through your previous view on HIV. A positive status doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the end of your world. I\u2019m 25 years positive and still kicking!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

GT’s story is part of the H is for Human series, in collaboration with the Terrence Higgins Trust, sharing stories of strength, courage and hope from four decades of HIV in Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n <\/svg><\/span>

H is for Human – Stories of strength, courage and hope. 40 years of HIV in Scotland<\/strong> Download the latest Humans of Scotland book<\/p>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For more information on Terrence Higgins Trust and to learn about the work they do, follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen I was 15, I ran away to London and lived there for 35 years. During my time in London, I was living pretty recklessly, and I started running myself into the ground. I mean, I was literally skin and bone, doing things that were really unhealthy for me, and that\u2019s when I thought I … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":26306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"26170,26155,26124,25192,24164,19444","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"hos-category":[839],"humans_tags":[846,828],"area_of_work":[776],"strategic_priority":[813],"class_list":["post-26305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hos-category-h-is-for-human-stories-of-strength-courage-and-hope","humans_tags-long-term-conditions","humans_tags-services-and-support","area_of_work-humans-of-scotland","strategic_priority-voice-of-lived-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGT's story - Humans of Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GT's story - Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhen I was 15, I ran away to London and lived there for 35 years. During my time in London, I was living pretty recklessly, and I started running myself into the ground. I mean, I was literally skin and bone, doing things that were really unhealthy for me, and that\u2019s when I thought I … Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rachelcairns\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rachelcairns\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rachelcairns\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67\"},\"headline\":\"GT’s story\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/GT.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/\",\"name\":\"GT's story - Humans of Scotland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/GT.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/GT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/GT.png\",\"width\":642,\"height\":467},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/gts-story\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GT’s story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/\",\"name\":\"Humans of Scotland\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67\",\"name\":\"rachelcairns\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rachelcairns\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\\\/humansofscotland\\\/author\\\/rachelcairns\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GT's story - Humans of Scotland","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"GT's story - Humans of Scotland","og_description":"\u201cWhen I was 15, I ran away to London and lived there for 35 years. During my time in London, I was living pretty recklessly, and I started running myself into the ground. I mean, I was literally skin and bone, doing things that were really unhealthy for me, and that\u2019s when I thought I … Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/","og_site_name":"Humans of Scotland","article_published_time":"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":642,"height":467,"url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"rachelcairns","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rachelcairns","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/"},"author":{"name":"rachelcairns","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67"},"headline":"GT’s story","datePublished":"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/"},"wordCount":691,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png","inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/","name":"GT's story - Humans of Scotland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png","datePublished":"2024-10-31T09:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/GT.png","width":642,"height":467},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/gts-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GT’s story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/","name":"Humans of Scotland","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/#\/schema\/person\/e49fdf791f85a0b0e47111a9ac87bd67","name":"rachelcairns","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/90b91e3dbf63c5b877eb5bb487d575cd6936ae0bd6140eec8175195509236265?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rachelcairns"},"url":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/author\/rachelcairns\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2027-10-14 12:42:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"sections","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"hos-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hos-category?post=26305"},{"taxonomy":"humans_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/humans_tags?post=26305"},{"taxonomy":"area_of_work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area_of_work?post=26305"},{"taxonomy":"strategic_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategic_priority?post=26305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}