An inspirational man has shared a heart-warming picture of himself alongside his family in the hope it will help battle the stigma of being HIV positive.
Andrew Pulsipher – who is HIV positive – posted the snap of himself on Facebook alongside his wife and three children.
Andrew – who has been HIV positive since birth – wrote next to the picture, which has now been shared over 12,000 times: “I am sharing this with you because for the first time I can be completely honest with myself and others. This has taken me a very long time to be comfortable with (almost 34 years!).’
“I know HIV has a negative stigma, but that it doesn’t have to and I want to help change that. It is a treatable disease and you can live a normal life with it. I am proof of that. I want to educate people so that we can get past the “HOW you got the disease” to “HOW you are living your life with it”.”
Andrew and his wife Victoria, from Phoenix, Arizona, had their first child using fertility treatments because they feared passing on the virus. However the couple went on to have their other two children naturally, with Andrew explaining:
“[The] phrase [undetectable] relates to the amount of virus detectable in my blood, although it still can be hidden in other parts of my body. It also means that the medicine I take every day is working!!!”
He added to the Huffington Post: “If you’re undetectable, there’s only a one per cent chance of giving it to your spouse, at least for a man and a woman. “I only take three pills, once a day. That’s it. It used to be a lot worse.”