HIV Survival Story: Josh Robbins

Danielle Scott, a journalist with loop21.com interviews me about my journey living with HIV, and asks me to share some of the more difficult moments that I’ve personally experienced living with this virus publicly.

This interview is very personal to me, as I shared details that I’ve yet been able to write about myself, including, the potential cause of me losing my amazing, yet worried and disappointed best friend early after my diagnosis. Thanks, Danielle for the chance to share my experiences. Also, thank you for penning a very personal moment in my life in such a responsible and compassionate interview.

HIV Survival Story: Josh Robbins [by Danielle Scott for Loop21.com]

Finding out you have a life-threatening illness is one of the most personal experiences a person can ever endure. Josh Robbins decided to share such a moment with the world.

At just 29, Robbins recorded himself moments after learning he had contracted HIV, but instead of discarding the footage, he used his story to inspire thousands of young people.

Loop21: Describe the moment when you learned you were HIV+.
Josh Robbins: What went through my mind was less about the actual virus and more about the social affects. Were my friends going to stick beside me? Why did I do this, I’m hard on myself. I was disappointed and then what were people going to think. Primarily I was hard on myself because I was very disappointed in myself and I felt that people in my family would be disappointed in me as well. And then I was very worried about what life would be like living in the South. I live in Nashville.

Read the rest of the interview:  http://www.loop21.com/health/hiv-survival-story-josh-robbins