HIV/Aids Cure News: Sole Individual Cured of HIV Shares His Story
Timothy Ray Brown, the only person known to have been cured of HIV, thought that ridding himself of the disease was impossible when a doctor spoke to him many years ago.
Now, he is the proof that the dreaded illness is not a dead end for many of its sufferers. In a Times LIVE report, Brown opened up about how he hopes that others can also be cured.
"I don't want to be the only one cured of HIV' it is a very lonely place'" he expressed.
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"Nobody wants to go through what I went through' when I had a 50% (chance) of not surviving the bone-marrow transplants but I am cured of leukaemia and HIV," the 51-year-old survivor also said.
Dubbed as the "Berlin Patient," after where he underwent treatment, Brown reportedly spoke in front of students at the University of Cape Town recently, sharing his story.
"I have had two life sentences," he told his audience. "I was infected with HIV when the only treatment was AZT. Then I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia," he added.
For the uninitiated, AZT is an antiretroviral medicine that comes with many side effects, while acute myeloid leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
The last time Brown took antiretrovirals was way back in February of 2007. He had to stop taking the said medication because it may interfere with the donor cells his body needed to treat his leukemia.
Ironically, though, it was his cancer that led to the HIV cure. The American, who was residing Berlin, Germany met with Dr. Gero Huetter about a decade ago. The medical practitioner then offered the idea to treat Brown's cancer with a stem-cell transplant.
He became a public figure in 2010 after a German magazine introduced him to the world as the "Berlin Patient."
Now, he is residing in California with his partner of five years. Although cured of HIV and cancer, the numerous treatments he received had left him with neurological damage, affecting his speech and movement.
According to Huffington Post, over a million of people in the U.S. are currently living with HIV, and about 15 percent of these sufferers are not aware that they have it. What is worse is that an average of 20 deaths each day is caused by HIV.
Brown's second chance at life is an inspiration to many who are infected with the disease. Hopefully, more advancements in science and technology will be able to cure more people.
