I have nothing else to hide

His 20s and 30s were a hedonistic ride of drugs and unprotected sex, but the consequences caught up "With that kind of lifestyle I lived, it was just a matter of time," says Christopher (not his real name), now 52.

- Jessica Novia

He was diagnosed with HIV in 2010, after feeling unwell for about a month. "I had no appetite, I was losing weight, I was having diarrhoea and coughing my lungs out.

I wasn't functioning any more," says Christopher, who was working up to 12 hours a day in retail then.

He saw a general practitioner, who conducted a blood test. When he came back for the results, the doctor told him he was HIV-positive and that he had to be immediately admitted into the Communicable Disease Centre.

"When he told me that, I was like, okay, I'm going to die," he says.

At that point, he had been in a 10-year-long relationship. "He was fine, I was fine, so we didn't do regular checks." His then partner also tested positive for HIV. They are no longer together.

Ironically, Christopher had been a volunteer with AfA since 1989, but it had not occurred to him to get himself tested.

He was hospitalised for three months and received antiretroviral therapy, but remained in denial about the severity of his diagnosis.