12:00a.m. 1st December 2008

John* is a quietly spoken, articulate man with impeccable manners, a gentle sense of humour and stunning blue eyes.

His pale blue, collared shirt is neatly pressed, as are his grey trouser pants which match his socks.

His black, lace-up shoes are shined enough to pass an army inspection.

But behind the ready smile and friendly demeanour lies a man who has had his fair share of worries since being diagnosed with HIV 18 years ago.

John is now a Sunshine Coast HIV and Sexual Health Clinic (Clinic 87) client attending Queensland Health’s Nambour clinic since moving to the Coast in 2004.

The roller-coaster ride that accompanies the illness, described as one of the world’s biggest social, economic and health challenges, is one that requires its passenger to take the twists and turns of tests and trials in order to keep full-blown AIDS and, eventually death, at bay.

Naturally, upon hearing the diagnosis, death was John’s first concern.

How long would it be before AIDS claimed him in the same way it claims 8000 lives every day?

“You’ve got two years at the most,” he told himself after his doctor’s phone call ended.

“I was shocked at the news,” John recalled ahead of the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day today.

“It was a routine blood test. I’d had a string of illnesses, including asthma and a few bouts of shingles, and my doctor suggested adding the HIV tests while they were taking the blood sample.

“My T-cell count was down to 20, the normal range being 400.

“Naturally, after all I’d read, and with that low T-cell count, I thought I didn’t have much longer than two years.

“So I did what I always do in a high-stress situation: planned ahead, came up with solutions and decided to go into work the next day and resign.”

John’s boss asked him to reconsider that resignation. However, John felt he couldn’t continue working there and packed up his belongings and farewelled his colleagues that same day.

He hasn’t been in paid employment since.

John thinks he contracted the disease six years earlier while travelling overseas.

But, he said, “what was done was done”.

His next concern was how to tell his partner.

“We’d been together for 20 years,” he said.

“What would happen to our relationship? What if I had infected him?” At this stage Bill*, who had been listening as John told his story, uncrossed his legs, looked across the table at his partner and said the words which had obviously been uttered many times before in the past two decades.

“Ending our relationship was never even a consideration,” he said, his brown eyes gazing steadily into John’s.

“I was stunned, briefly. Of course I was stunned.

“But we had been together for 20 years by then and we were in it for the long haul and we still are.”

The couple recalls the reaction of acquaintances and colleagues, agreeing such confronting news sorts out true friends.

And they did this interview on the proviso there was no information that could identify them as they still fear society’s reaction to their relationship.

“After all, what goes on behind closed doors in any home is no one’s business,” Bill said.

“It’s not the diagnosis that affects people.

“It’s more that you are gay.

“We have never pushed our relationship out into the open. We wouldn’t even touch each other in public.

“We’ve never been part of the gay culture or done the party circuit. However, good friends obviously know and colleagues knew we lived together.

“Some people, when diagnosed with HIV, hide it and refuse to tell anyone in case they are discriminated against and the old prejudices come out.”

It is not only the prejudice that causes difficulties when HIV is diagnosed. It is the costs and the never-ending cycle of medicos and medications.

John says he would not have survived without Bill’s help to attend doctor appointments and keep track of, and make up, the medication.

He is on 15 medications: six tablets at breakfast, eight at lunch and four at dinner.

Add the nine fish oil tablets throughout the day and you have a smorgasbord of tablets that are “swallowed in one gulp” at each sitting.

They both agree treatment and society’s attitude towards HIV have changed since John’s diagnosis 20 years ago.

“It is no longer a death sentence,” John said.

“There is so much money being put towards it and so many drugs available, which allow people to have more or less an active life.”

And his advice to others?

“Use protection,” he says vehemently.

“It’s bad enough for me, but I have lived a life and I feel so sorry for young ones who are infected.

“They haven’t lived. They haven’t travelled. Their life is now filled with complications.

“Everyone thinks it’s not going to happen to them but it can and it does.

“Have your fun but be safe.”

For more information on the Sunshine Coast HIV and Sexual Health Clinic (Clinic 87), phone 5470 5244. For information on World AIDS Day, visit www.worldaidsday.org.au

(*Names have been changed to protect each person’s identity.)