HIV Did Not Stop Me From Having a Biological Child

On Monday, April 15, 2013, at 8:00 a.m., my life changed forever. My wife, Kasiah, and I welcomed our first child, a healthy girl named Finley Elizabeth Banks, into this world. She was perfect. But the journey to have a healthy, HIV-free biological child began many years before Finley’s birth. MoreFederal Appeals Court Strikes Down Utah's Gay Marriage Ban NBC NewsJessica N. Turner: Moms, Put on That Swimsuit Huffington PostShould the Cops Get to Look at Your Cellphone? NBC NewsParty's Over? GOP's Insurgents Take More Punches NBC NewsUruguay eliminates Italy; Did Suarez bite again? Sports IllustratedIn 1981, when I was two years old, I was diagnosed with Bilateral Wilms’ tumors, a cancer of the kidneys, which had also spread to both of my lungs. The prognosis was grim; treatment was aggressive. My tiny toddler body fought a battle that required 15 months of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgeries that required multiple blood transfusions. Unknowingly, I was transfused with blood that infected me with HIV. Ten years later, having lived through a cancer-free childhood, doctors screened my blood during a routine oncology check-up. They discovered that I was HIV-positive. In 1991, the epidemic was still raging, and very little was known about how HIV/AIDS infected and affected children. Pediatric treatment options were limited — AZT (the drug that drives the plot of Dallas Buyers Club) had only been approved for young patients the previous year. Support from famil...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized AIDS research Family & Parenting Fatherhood HIV medicine Science Source Type: news