2010 Gilead Award

December 5, 2010 at 1:13 am · Filed under Uncategorized

I am thrilled to announce that Thrivine our HIV support group in Blackburn of which I am very proud to be Chair for the second year running  has won the 2010 Gliead “Putting Patients 1st”  Award, for Integrity, teamwork, and Excellence and as such have made a significant or unique contribution to people living with HIV.

My Acceptance Speech.

It is a very great honour for Thrivine to receive this award. Even though in the grand scheme of things we may only be a relatively small group,  hopefully it will be an example to other HIV positive people in other towns across the UK and northern Ireland, that they can also start their own  support groups, stop living in isolation, and derive hope and strength from each other –

Positive People Power.

I would love to see the day when HIV stigma is reduced to the point where HIV positive people can openly come out to the world, hold their heads high and be accepted for who they are and not what they have.

Living with HIV is different to all other chronic illnesses in that there is still a huge a stigma attached to it that affects all areas of your life. Trying to cope with the challenges of living with HIV can put you in a very dark and lonely place and I have witnessed through our work at Thrivine that being part of a support group provides a much needed light in what would otherwise be a very dark tunnel – especially for the newly diagnosed.  

I am only sad today that Marc Rushton a co founder of Thrivine, who was a tireless campaigner and HIV activist, even when he was so desperately ill, tragically passed away in May.  I wish that he could be here to see us receive this award, but I am sure that he is with us in spirit and I and the other members of Thrivine will continue to thrive and go forward with the group – because that’s what he would have wanted.

The most powerful tool for dealing with and coming to terms with an HIV diagnosis is to meet and mix with other positive people. It is also a great help for their families and loved ones. Over the last few years this has been proved in our work at Thrivine. I have witnessed people slowly coming out of the shadows, out of exile – and it is wonderful to watch them starting to slowly regain confidence and gain strength from each other. That is why the name of our group Thrivine has proved to be so appropriate.

Thanks to this award Thrivine will be able to continue providing our valuable service – how long for we don’t know, that all depends on future financing. But for the time being,  thanks to Gilead, we will be able to give it our very best shot, whilst at the same time keep striving to raise awareness and defeat HIV related stigma.

By controlling the virus through our medication we can show the world that we are not in fact a danger to society, the opposite in fact and that we are actively contributing to the fight against HIV. That with the help of medication people can be diagnosed and live with the results.

In our ‘Positive Prayer’ which will be read out at the World AIDS Day vigil at Blackburn Cathedral, I asked the members of Thrivine to write something that they wished,  either for themselves or for the world in relation to HIV.  One of our members, who has been positive for twenty eight years wrote this-

“I wish for worldwide equal access to the life giving drugs, which I am grateful for and very fortunate to get free at source – an absence of which would have most definitely seen my rapid demise many years ago.”

I echo that sentiment and am sure that every other HIV positive person who is lucky enough to have access to medication would agree, as without it, I for one wouldn’t be here today on behalf of Thrivine to receive this award.

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