Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The benefits to testing early


By John Donnelly

Deadra Lawson-Smith, 46, learned she was HIV positive at 26. To her, there’s no secret why she still feels so strong and healthy.

``I attribute a lot of that to early testing,’’ she says. ``I think when I was made aware that I needed to be tested, back then, 20 years ago, it felt like a negative thing. But it really was a positive thing. It gave me an opportunity to be monitored. It gave me an opportunity to work through the emotional things that are going to prevent you from accessing care. You really do have to work through the emotional part of it.’’

Lawson-Smith, who lives in Columbia, S.C., works as a community liaison and peer advocate for Project F.A.I.T.H., an initiative run by the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council. She plans to attend the 2008 National Summit on HIV Diagnosis, Prevention and Access to Care in Arlington as a member of the Living Quilt project, a group of HIV-positive women in the South who decided to go public with their status in order to break stigma and fear around the disease.

Her message on early testing is especially poignant for her adopted state: In South Carolina from 2001 to 2005, nearly two of every five women (37.7 percent) diagnosed with HIV tested late -- meaning they were diagnosed with AIDS less than one year after testing positive for HIV.

Lawson-Smith, the mother of four and the grandmother of four more, said she has seen too many people go for tests too late.

``I’ve seen people get sick and die real quick,’’ she said. ``Being diagnosed as positive almost as long as this epidemic has been around, has made me privy to a lot of that. There are a lot of people suffering in their silence.’’

For her, the Living Quilt project has been powerful. She’s now part of a digital collection of women who are telling their stories publicly without hesitation.

``I’m really grateful I have the ability to speak up,’’ Lawson-Smith said. ``That’s where the freedom comes from. The freedom comes from disclosure.’’


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