My name is Janet Johnson and I have been HIV+ since 1985, and I have been living with AIDS since 2002. I also had a son born infected in 1986 who lived to be12 yrs old. I have experienced a lot and learned a lot in my journey with this disease.

I lost my Mama in 1994 with whom my two sons and myself lived with in a house that we had purchased together. After she passed and we lost her income in the house and I hadn't yet received my own disability and was trying to work when I could and take care of a sick child too a social worker from the Huntsville Department of Public Health hooked me up with an organization in Birmingham called the Aids Task Force of Alabama, which started assisting me with my mortgage payments through a program called H.O.P.W.A.(Housing Opportunities for People Living with HIV/AIDS), that is when the organization which is now known as AIDS ALABAMA came into my (our) lives.

After my son (Gary) died of AIDS in 1999, I returned to what I know and do best.....DRUGS. I sure didn't want to deal with his death and all the pain I was feeling. I lost practically my entire family in the '90's. My husband to AIDS in 1990, my daddy in 1991,my mama in 1994 and then my youngest son in 1999, and I had had enough. I moved to Birmingham after the death of my son and I used drugs until 2002,when my medical social worker and my HIV doctor (Dr. Jane Mobley) told me about a treatment program (you guessed it) through AIDS ALABAMA, which I entered, found out I had progressed to AIDS, completed , received my shelter care +, and then picked back up the DRUGS on my year anniversary. In 2004 I reentered the treatment program again and I now through the Grace of My Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, the 12 Step Program, the treatment facility of AIDS ALABAMA and one day at a time I now have 3 years, 2 months and 9 days clean one Day at a time. I also work for the agency in a facility they have for dually diagnosed persons and I live in AIDS ALABAMA'S permanent housing right near the treatment facility where if I find myself ever in trouble with the thoughts of using DRUGS again I can get back to where I need to be.

AIDS ALABAMA and I have been together now for over a decade and I know in my heart that I owe my life to the agency and the wonderful people who work there. I also know in my heart if it had NOT have been for AIDS ALABAMA and the work and care that they do I WOULD NOT be alive today. Thank You AIDS ALABAMA for saving my life and giving me a life full of Hope and Love.

Sincerely,

Janet Johnson

HIV/AIDS SURVIVOR