POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: metekrop on July 23, 2010, 09:06:39 am
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The first person I know of infected with HIV is the US NBA basketball player Magic Johnson. I come to know that this great athlete is infected when I was a teen when even I don't know about sex. That is more than twenty years old. I usually now look at this man on TV and hope is very much okay. Dose any one here knows about which medication he is using, his life style, family situation, friends etc. so that we can draw a lesson from his experience.
;)
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Does this fill in the blanks:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003459017_allen03.html
I think it would be highly unlikely a public figure would discuss his HAART regime and details of his health.
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Of course any details about his health would be private but he appears to be doing extremely well. He has built a huge business empire in the years since his diagnosis and is worth many hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm not implying that money should measure a person's worth but rather making a point that to run such a large enterprise takes a lot of hands-on work and commitment and this is something he's achieved while having HIV and having been diagnosed before there were any real treatments for it. He was recently named the most admired African American by others in that group (beating out the almighty O).
He's part owner of the Lakers, has written several books, has done a lot of HIV outreach work in the inner cities. He's bought and sold and started several companies. He's a very successful businessman, something that retired pro athletes are rarely able to pull off. He's basically been living a very full life with HIV.
Someone even started a rumor that he lied about having HIV because they just could not believe that someone with HIV could do what he's done and remain as healthy as he has.
This is his website:
http://www.magicjohnson.org/
And he's not the only one, there are many others with HIV who are not just surviving but also thriving.
Check out David von Storch:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/poziam/2010/06/21/david-von-storch--complicated-order
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/smallbusiness/0910/gallery.best_places_why_i_launched_here.smb/47.html
http://www.capcitybrew.com/ourfounder.php
http://www.complicatedorder.com/the-show.html
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He was on TV not to long ago talking about being infected and taking his meds and he's undetectable. He didn't really have much to say about it.
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I think it would be highly unlikely a public figure would discuss his HAART regime and details of his health.
why? less famous people, like me :D, speak all the time in public about the details of our med regimen and health, and we're not even shills for the big pharma. ;) I would bet Magic has been paid some extra dough to spill the beans about his awesome results in books and at speaking events.
I don't think the problem is that Magic doesn't talk about his health, as I'm sure he does in more details at his various speaking events, the problem is that the media doesn't make a big issue out of it. You see, he's not dying from AIDS so his story is "boring" (people dying from AIDS is a story, people living with HIV is not that big of a deal). Plus the regular joe on the street can't name an HIV med much less care about which drug is keeping Magic alive. Hence, he's not plastered in the news anymore about his health, his meds, etc, instead he's living his life - and telling those details to select audiences that actually are interested. Just like all of us, I would imagine that AIDS doesn't define who Magic thinks he is, and therefore he doesn't just go around doing nothing but talking about AIDS and HIV meds.
I'm sure you can buy an autobiography, do some research on the net, or attend one of his speaking events to find out all the nitty-gritty. ;)
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The first person I know of infected with HIV
I just wanted to point out that while he may have been the first person you realized was positive, he certainly wasn't the first. Evidence is emerging that HIV has probably existed for quite some time and was simply seen as something else. The tests and technology to spot it only emerged after WWII.
While you can easily model his successful behavior, such as taking your meds, seeing your doctor, and living healthy... .each person's situation is unique and what works for him, or you may not work for me.
Imitation is a good idea, but it's a better idea to get education so that you can participate in making informed decisions about your health.
NOTE: I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. I am addressing a tangent that I see someone could go off on based on part of your post. As not everyone who visits this site participates I think it's important to reach out to their needs anyhow. Many people simply read what is posted here.
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As hotpuppy says, each person's situation is different. There is also a big difference being newly diagnosed now compared to when Magic was diagnosed.
There was an article about Magic in 2006 in USA Today which stated he was on Kaltera and Trizivir. I would personally not go on either of those meds. There are better choices now and of course a lot depends on one's resistance profile.
LINK:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-30-magic-aids_x.htm
There is an ad for Kaletra with a picture of Magic on it in my doctor's examination room.
Abbot got into some trouble with their Magic Johnson Kaletra ads because they suggest that Kaletra is safer and more effective than has been demonstrated by substantial evidence or substantial clinical experience, and encourage use in circumstances other than those for which the drug has been shown to be safe and effective.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE56L57R20090722
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There was an article about Magic in 2006 in USA Today which stated he was on Kaltera and Trizivir. I would personally not go on either of those meds. There are better choices now and of course a lot depends on one's resistance profile.
I was still on Kaletra the first half of 2006. It was fairly standard.
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I was still on Kaletra the first half of 2006. It was fairly standard.
I didn't say it wasn't.
It's just not usually the first choice but it's a good strong drug that can actually work as monotherapy for some people, albeit oftentimes with GI side effects (i.e. the shits).
Trizivir in 2006 is not too "standard" though.
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I think Kaletra is made by Charmin..... because when most people take it they wind up using lots of toilet paper!!!
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Trizivir in 2006 is not too "standard" though.
Probably not, but like you stated nobody knows his resistance profile, and he went on meds around the same pre-HAART time that I did so I'm sure his resistance profile sucks. It's rather useless, in that context, to comment on his med regimen.
That said, I never "got" why they wanted to combine three NRTI's in one pill but I was never put on trizivir (though I was on each of the three components at varying times). I guess there's some good reason behind it though.
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He was a motivational speaker at a sales conference I attended for a Fortune 500 company in Dallas about 3 years ago. He looked great, he was genuine and extremely entertaining on stage. When asked what his biggest challenge was, he replied, "living with HIV."
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I've been wondering the same thing about Magic--where is he? I often wonder why he is not more out in front on HIV/AIDS with the kind of platform he would have. But, I also realize if he doesn't want to do that then that is his perrogative. I don't like talking about my HIV to strangers (besides you guys), so I can understand if he doesn't. Wasn't he doing commercials for rent-a-center or some place like that?
I would really like to just have things cleared up about his health even though its none of my business. For years, the media has pushed the story that Magic has some amazing ability to fight off the virus. About 2 years ago, he was on Oprah and the narrative was kinda like Magic was special and most others were very sick or died. I felt Oprah didn't do a good show on that one. So, I am curious whether he is an elite controller or whether he is just like everyone else who got access to HAART and did well on it. Or, is it like "Southpark" portrayed it? He puts cash in a blender and injects it. For those who didn't see that, they were making the point that to cure HIV you need more money for research.
Magic is probably the biggest celebrity who has admitted to being poz??? Greg Louganis 2nd? Am I forgetting someone?
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So, I am curious whether he is an elite controller or whether he is just like everyone else who got access to HAART and did well on it.
Theodore, he went on AZT like everyone else in the early 90's -- if you're on meds upon diagnosis you're not very elite at controlling anything.
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I think Kaletra is made by Charmin..... because when most people take it they wind up using lots of toilet paper!!!
This is one of my all time favorite posts on here....so true!
Gary
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I've been wondering the same thing about Magic--where is he? I often wonder why he is not more out in front on HIV/AIDS with the kind of platform he would have. But, I also realize if he doesn't want to do that then that is his perrogative. I don't like talking about my HIV to strangers (besides you guys), so I can understand if he doesn't. Wasn't he doing commercials for rent-a-center or some place like that?
I would really like to just have things cleared up about his health even though its none of my business. For years, the media has pushed the story that Magic has some amazing ability to fight off the virus. About 2 years ago, he was on Oprah and the narrative was kinda like Magic was special and most others were very sick or died. I felt Oprah didn't do a good show on that one. So, I am curious whether he is an elite controller or whether he is just like everyone else who got access to HAART and did well on it. Or, is it like "Southpark" portrayed it? He puts cash in a blender and injects it. For those who didn't see that, they were making the point that to cure HIV you need more money for research.
Magic is probably the biggest celebrity who has admitted to being poz??? Greg Louganis 2nd? Am I forgetting someone?
Why don't you drop Hillary a line?
MtD
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Theodore, he went on AZT like everyone else in the early 90's -- if you're on meds upon diagnosis you're not very elite at controlling anything.
That makes sense. I just didn't know whether his docs believed he should be on meds even if he was controlling it on his own. If he was controlling it really well on his own, it seems very unlikely they would want to put him on AZT. So, you're right.
It still makes me wonder why the narrative has been he is some special case of someone who HIV just doesn't affect. I suppose it is due to many in the media thinking HIV is still a certain death sentence for most and he seems to be doing much better than most. Or, the general public believing no one infected when he was infected is still alive. In that Oprah interview from about 2 years ago, I remember Oprah asking him why he seems to do so much better than everyone else. I believe she asked what his secret was. That Southpark episode aired just a year ago or so and they were saying the same thing--HIV doesn't seem to affect him the same. It made me wonder whether there is something different about him or just that he had access to meds and was not really that different from anyone else. I'm sure he had the same problems with the earlier meds and finally found a successful regimen, and still has the same issues as other LTS'. However, when I've talked to others about him, they believe he has some ability to fight off HIV that most don't. There are many who don't believe he actually has HIV.
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Why don't you drop Hillary a line?
MtD
Do you think she'd respond?
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Do you think she'd respond?
Not if she reads Off Topic.
MtD
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Tednlou
There was a "black urban legend" for many years that Magic Johnson had been cured of AIDS.
The questions you ask about why is he considered "special" are related to that, and the simple answer really is "ignorance".
It has been a pretty wild ride for Magic Johnson as he was a hero and in a macho sport, and then laid low with the AIDS with all its stigma, long long before hetero's and blacks, as a community, were willing to discuss such matters. Whats worse, there were rumours at the time he was bisexual. On the down low continued for years to haunt him.
Oprah hasn't been great about HIV/AIDS and has her own challenges with discussing homosexuality openly and personally.
Sometimes Oprah speaks from the heart, with integrity and intelligence, sometimes she just show bizness BULLSHIT and it pours out of her. She's not the best journalist, that's for sure. More of a personality and business woman.
There's probably a good book in telling the story of HIV/AIDS in the "black community". It wasn't so very long ago people really believed Farrakhan's idiotic conspiracy theories (AIDS was created by Jews to wipe out blacks, for example), or that there was a cure but it was being held secret by the CIA to continue wiping out blacks homos and drug addicts.
And in return, there are many whites who sell the black community short, because of self-aggrandizing corrupt "leaders" who demanded respect from the mainstream media and eventually got some (Al Sharpton) despite their support for the worse kind of reverse race baiting. And the tendency of whites to take the small minority of really ignorant black people who could believe all this conspiracy crap, as the norm. Which it may never have been.
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That makes sense. I just didn't know whether his docs believed he should be on meds even if he was controlling it on his own. If he was controlling it really well on his own, it seems very unlikely they would want to put him on AZT. So, you're right.
It still makes me wonder why the narrative has been he is some special case of someone who HIV just doesn't affect. I suppose it is due to many in the media thinking HIV is still a certain death sentence for most and he seems to be doing much better than most. Or, the general public believing no one infected when he was infected is still alive. In that Oprah interview from about 2 years ago, I remember Oprah asking him why he seems to do so much better than everyone else. I believe she asked what his secret was. That Southpark episode aired just a year ago or so and they were saying the same thing--HIV doesn't seem to affect him the same. It made me wonder whether there is something different about him or just that he had access to meds and was not really that different from anyone else. I'm sure he had the same problems with the earlier meds and finally found a successful regimen, and still has the same issues as other LTS'. However, when I've talked to others about him, they believe he has some ability to fight off HIV that most don't. There are many who don't believe he actually has HIV.
Tedderz, you're over-analyzing this. It's rather simple: once viral load testing appeared ~1995 Magic was undetectable and has remained so. Additionally, he's either not experienced any significant side effects or he's chosen not to complain about them publicly if he's had any. That's it -- end of story. Not everyone pre-HAART developed lipo and/or peripheral neuropathy or had their livers and kidneys self-destruct. A lot of patients did, some did not. If you're going to seek medical explanations from Oprah interviews then I don't know what more I can say.
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I t's funny someone said it was their JFK moment cause I remember thinking and crying cause I knew I had it too while I was living in San Diego having more sex than I thought was humanly possible then,...I didn't stop having sex but became increasingly more careful what I did to a point, but bathhouses were another story. Magic was thought to be dying as I and we are still here and nobody has asked me for an autograph I just don't get it, I mean understand, I got it...He is somewhat of a marker for me in that I now no I am not dying anytime soon so get to living which I unfortunately still find hard to do afraid the minute I start it will be over.
I am glad Greg louganis was mentioned because that was a big moment for me also in that the fear of being in a pool with an HIV person and the fact that I have been swimming to this day so often and I don't feel compelled to stop due to my HIV.
Andd just thinkk of all those we don't know dying from an a cancer related to their HIV
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I think it would be highly unlikely a public figure would discuss his HAART regime and details of his health.
Why is that? It is certainly known that he is in any regime. So, what if he tells others about that. Are these people are kinda jealous or what? ::)
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If they are personalities known for giving something to the public (rather than just narcissistic celebrities of undetermined use and value) than their private lives and certainly medical histories are beside the point, for the most part.
Why did Lance Armstrong, however, tell us the true story of his cancer fight and NOT the true story of his doping to be a top athlete.
Another reason famous people don't talk is keeping their image attractive.
It's attractive to know Magic has been a standup guy for HIV education, and it might not be so attractive to hear about his side effects or his sex life.... I mean he could go there, but how would that help.
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Magic is probably the biggest celebrity who has admitted to being poz??? Greg Louganis 2nd? Am I forgetting someone?
Jim J Bullock! (sorry when anyone mentions Tammy Faye Baker I always flash back to the horrendous talk show Jim J and Tammy Faye) He's somewhat famous and positive.
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What that her ex husband?
(Edit: OK - I got my answer in the Christian crazy thread.)
Did you ever see the documentary the Eyes of Tammy Faye? Its fabs.
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I think the HIV+ celebrity that affected me the most was Pedro Zamora of The Real World. I had not been HIV+ that long when that show aired and I thought he had guts to go on television and be open about his status. Watching the show you got to know who he was and I cared about him as a person.
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I loved Perry Ellis fashions in the early 80's and I guess his death was the first celebrity to impact me (1986) though I also registered Rock Hudson, and Klaus Naomi (1983!).
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On the topic of HIV positive celebrities, there seem to be FAR fewer coming outas HIV+ these days than there were in the eighties. With the exception of Andy Bell of Erasure, and a few porn stars, I can't think of any. Are they not coming out because its easier to keep a secret?
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I loved Perry Ellis fashions in the early 80's and I guess his death was the first celebrity to impact me (1986) though I also registered Rock Hudson, and Klaus Naomi (1983!).
It's Nomi, not Naomi. And that was the first celebrity death that registered with me.
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Brain fog spelling ;D
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Klaus was very fierce. Everyone should try and catch The Nomi Song documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KiEP5Ctfk0
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I think the HIV+ celebrity that affected me the most was Pedro Zamora of The Real World. I had not been HIV+ that long when that show aired and I thought he had guts to go on television and be open about his status. Watching the show you got to know who he was and I cared about him as a person.
Same here. He actually came to the drug rehab I was in and spoke, this was before he was on Real World. I still remember where I was the day they announced his death.
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Klaus was very fierce. Everyone should try and catch The Nomi Song documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KiEP5Ctfk0
Looks interesting! I'll add it to my list.
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What I recall about Magic Johnson are two things:
That he felt a need to say on that windbag's talk show whose name I can't recall now...just after he came out about his status he said something like "well you know I am extremely heterosexual." UGH.
And he was a spokesman for a while a few years ago flogging an AIDS drug for a totally shitty company that was trying to prevent generic drugs for Thailand. The ads and Magic's rap were all about the good news of the drug and its availability, but without at the time saying how peeps in the black community were going to afford the med. The ads were directed at the black community and he made an appearance at Medger Evers College in Bklyn connected with pushing the med and testing. Cool about testing but what good if there isn't also access?
A group of us ACT UP peeps confronted him about the issues and in the process got a fair amount of negative response from the largely black audience that was thrilled to be seeing him.
Magic assured us he was "on it" about the issues we raised. Never heard anything further.
You can bet he can afford his meds if he isn't getting them comped and is assured a level of medical care that ought to be universal but isn't.
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Wasn't he the face of Kaletra for sometime? I remember when I first taking kaletra a few years ago he was on the Pamplet of Kaletra. I seen him on an episode of the Parkers (mo'nique's sitcom) which was probably filmed 8+ years ago. He should do more appearances on Television shows or something to make his fellow pozzies not feel so alone out there.
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Yes, he was flogging Kaletra for the pharma company.
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Well said Andy.
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know his Dr used to DR Gallo, who actually was fighting the french for the credit of isolation of the HIV virus.
I wish he was my DR.
Rock Hunson was the first celebrity I recall having Aids.
Ryan White was the most memorable. He did more for HIV/AIDS In his brief 18 years of life than Magic will ever do. In my opinion, Magic has been pretty disappointing. Oh you will see him in ads, or where ever else he can make a buck. But with his name and fame, he could be doing MUCH more.
I mean if he was doing more, this thread would have never been started.
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From my own personal experience I have to say I think the "Magic J" story is a reflection of the 1) ignorance 2) lack of access to health care and 3) attitudes abotu sexuality among persons in the African -American community. As a woman living with HIV, I am fascinated by the studies that all show how the recpetive partner is most at risk, etc, and that female to male transmission is much lower risk, specific to certain high risk sexual practices, etc. Having said that, Magic is not now, now ever will be, imo, a role model for anyone. He has 1) not given back to any community as he could, 2) I praise no one whose wealth affords them health care above the masses, 3) he got HIV in the context of cheating and heaven forbid we even begin to know how many groupies he infected. Do I see him as struggling? not really. I imagine he never has to ask himself if he can afford his next round of labs...so all I can say is, yes, there is a reason we don't have anything called the Majic Johnson Act... coming out seems to be the hardest thing he ever had to do publically...and there is still a lot of conspiracy theory about him because MOST people in America, imo, don't know shit form shinola when it comes to education about HIV. sigh. Case in point, I disclosed the other day to a potential lover and he said, when did you get aids, when are you gonna die? oh yeah, so I can't get it unless we have anal, right. I realized at that moment that he was way too stupid for me, ha. Z
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Case in point, I disclosed the other day to a potential lover and he said, when did you get aids, when are you gonna die? oh yeah, so I can't get it unless we have anal, right. I realized at that moment that he was way too stupid for me, ha. Z
You got that right! Onwards and upwards.
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Do you guys know by chance how much was his CD count, percentage and his vl level at any time given? ;) ;) ;)
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Do you guys know by chance how much was his CD count, percentage and his vl level at any time given? ;) ;) ;)
I think that have it printed on his All Star autographed jersey which can be had at ProSports online for $259.
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I think that have it printed on his All Star autographed jersey which can be had at ProSports online for $259.
I tried to find it on their skeebo, but didn't see it - unless there out of it....
hmmm, so sad :(
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I tried to find it on their skeebo, but didn't see it - unless there out of it....
hmmm, so sad :(
Are you sure? I wood think they'd have won left. It's the least they could do for the guy after he one all those championships.
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Are you sure? I wood think they'd have won left. It's the least they could do for the guy after he one all those championships.
;D
smartass must just be in our nature. I guess people just have to grin and bear - or is it bare - it.
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;D
smartass must just be in our nature. I guess people just have to grin and bear - or is it bare - it.
A regular pear we are.
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There their won one. Hehahahahaha ;D