In Treatment: Guy Anthony

In Treatment: Guy Anthony

By Tomika Anderson

One in a series of articles about Black people living with HIV/AIDS who are considering treatment, successfully adhering to their regimen and/or getting to undetectable.

Guy Anthony is a walking reminder that no matter what cards life deals a person, he can turn tragedy into triumph.

Sexually molested by several family members when he was a child, the now 27-year-old retail clerk was also date-raped six years ago, an assault that resulted in his HIV infection.

“I met a guy online and he invited me over,” explains Anthony, who currently resides in Washington, D.C. “He offered me Ecstasy and I took it. It was my first time ever taking one. Then he forced me to do things,” he explains. “Afterward I immediately became sick for about a week. When I went back home to Detroit for Thanksgiving, the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me—even though I was vomiting everywhere and stayed in the hospital for a week. A year later I moved to L.A. and decided to get tested,” says Anthony. “That’s where I found out that I was HIV positive.”

The news threw him into an emotional tailspin. Unable to cope, Anthony—who did not have health insurance—shut down emotionally.

“I went through this period where I was just kind of numb to it,” he says. “I went on a downward spiral that involved drugs, being promiscuous and partying. I was just focused on coping and finding a way to not think about the HIV. I did everything besides look for treatment.”

But when two people Anthony knew began dying of AIDS-related complications, Anthony snapped back to reality.

“That was the turning point,” he admits. “One was in Detroit and another was in Atlanta. I was one year older than the guy in Atlanta. I was just like, OK, this is it. I want to live. I have nieces and nephews and I have a family that I have to be there for. I’m smarter than that.”

And so the self-published author, who recently penned (Pos)+itively Beautiful: A Book of Affirmations + Advice + Advocacy, about his life journey, decided to connect with community organizations filled with other young, Black gay men for support.

“I found an organization in Atlanta called the Evolution Project,” he said. “I started volunteering there and realized that you can not only survive but thrive with HIV. I was around people my own age who were going through the same thing that I was going through.

They put me in touch with different organizations, people who could help me get access to treatment and copay-assistance programs. I surrounded myself with young, Black gay men that were willing to help me.”

The help could not have come at a better time. Anthony was actually on the verge of potentially becoming very sick.

“When I first got tested, my CD4 count was 272,” he shares. “That’s why they put me on meds, although I didn’t stay on them. If you drop below 200, you have full-blown AIDS, so the doctors were very, very worried about me. But now my CD4 count is 680 or something like that.”

That’s right—today he is un-detectable.

Now employed and insured, Anthony can afford medication, and for two years he has committed himself to staying under a doctor’s care. Anthony is currently on a regimen of Norvir, Prezista and Truvada. (He started on Norvir, Truvada and Reyataz, but the Reyataz resulted in excessive diarrhea and jaundice.)