This is part 5 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.

Harry Breaux never thought he’d live past 30. His father died of a heart attack at 50. His mother passed away when she was 51. Now, at 79, he’s outlived them both.

Being diagnosed with HIV did not come as a surprise. “You can’t play in the water and not expect to get wet,” he says. When he finally grew sick in his early 50s, he battled three simultaneous infections that threatened to take his life. Hospitalized, he found himself forced to make a decision he never expected to make. Would he let the virus take him, or would he fight? The rest, as they say, is history.

There’s something that happens when you accept that this is your life now,” he says. “You can beat it back …but it will never go away.” Now as an “elder” member of the Honoring Our Experience Community he bears witness to the journeys of so many who have come after him, sharing his story and listening to theirs, holding a deep compassion and empathy for the struggle that unites them.

As you listen to this episode, consider:

• Harry grew up in a small town in Louisiana, where what was acceptable was colored by a very conservative view. How are you shaped by the culture, environment or community in which you live?

• When Harry got sick he made a decision that would change his life. What important decision(s) have you made that changed the course of things to come? What did you learn from those decisions?

• Sharing our stories help us to recognize we are not alone. Listening to others helps us develop empathy. Who can you listen to this week? With whom can you share your story?
  

Listen to Harry’s episode here.