Nicholas Snow
Floridian Venus Perez, a forty-something Latina who has been HIV positive for over two decades holds among her role models, not surprisingly, her medical team. About the 2nd edition of her sought-after book, “I’m Still Here,” she explained, “We have come so far yet we are not quite there. Many lives were lost yet many still live. Many know the means of transmission, yet many neglect to follow it. Many of us live the fast life, looking for excitement, for success.”
Venus was swept away at the age of 19 by a 27-year-old man in the greater New York area where she had been born and raised. “I allowed him into my life at a very vulnerable time… The relationship became intimate, and I never practiced safe sex,” she confided.
Ultimately, as Venus explained, “I reluctantly broke off my relationship… After the breakup, I never heard from or saw him again.”
In 1986 Venus met and began to date a nice guy. A year later, on February 14th, 1987–Valentine’s Day–her boyfriend delivered the life-shaking news: “After handing me a gift, he held my hand, and said to me, ‘I have very serious information. Your ex-boyfriend died of AIDS.’ I asked him to repeat what he had said, and he did. I was silent. ‘This can’t be true,’ I thought.”
Her life changed forever. After more dramatic twists and turns as revealed in her book, Venus explains, “I had to decide whether I was going to fight or give up. Did I have enough fight in me to fight the good fight? I had to find a feasible method to give it my best shot. I didn’t want to give up. I decided I wanted to live! Even though the results were grim, I wanted to try.”
“Nobody would know by looking at me that I had HIV,” Venus shared about finding a support group. “We were newly diagnosed individuals with HIV (asymptomatic, showing no symptoms of the disease). There were fifteen people who attended that day. I cannot express how it felt to experience the long suffering and sadness and then the newfound release. We developed meaningful friendships and relationships. We supported each other through good times and bad.”
That was over two decades ago!
Venus wrote and published the first edition of her book in 2006 to help those around her living with HIV who were having difficulty coping. With the recent edition, she’s added two chapters which speak about the history, testimony, education outcomes and strength of people living with HIV/AIDS and other STD’s.
“Everyone has a light that shines within. My gifts and talents consist of singing, writing, and enjoying time with family and friends in addition to socializing with people. I always enjoyed people. I surround myself in environments and places where I can exercise my gifts. I offer to the world my ability to learn and to teach others which involves the gifts of service. I try to be a positive person in the world exercising generosity, joyfulness, being hospitable and humble and reminding individuals that their life counts. I try to be a positive influence in a negative world,” Venus concluded.
And she is! For her books, please visit most online booksellers or her web site at www.VenusPerez.com.
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