Rugby legend Gareth Thomas has revealed he is living with HIV, having maintained the diagnosis a secret for decades, but claims he was forced to tell people.
Even the 45-year-old became the primary UK sportsman to disclose he’s the virus during an interview with the Sunday Mirror – until showing in a video on his Twitter webpage which he was”compelled” to create the admission.
In the video he states:”I need to share my secret with you. Why? As it is mine to tell. Until I do, not the evils threatening to inform you.
“Now even though I have been made to tell you this, I choose to struggle to educate.”
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he stated he had felt”shame” over the diagnosis and had been suicidal at a single point.
“I had a panic people would judge me and treat me like a leper because of a lack of understanding,” he said.
“I was in a dark place, feeling indifferent. I thought of driving off a cliff.”
The former Wales rugby league and union celebrity came out becoming the first Celtics global to do so.
Describing the afternoon that he received the diagnosis, Thomas said:”I’ll never forget the minute I discovered. I went for a routine sexual health evaluation at a private practice in Cardiff.
“I’d had the evaluations every now and again and they’d always come back okay. I didn’t feel sick and that I thought it all was going to be nice.
“The girl who did the evaluation took blood as normal, I moved to my vehicle and waited for around an hour before going back to receive my results.
“Once I went in, I sat on a chair next to a doctor’s bench. She informed me at a quite matter-of-fact way I had tested HIV positive.”
The rugby star said he instantly”broke ” and”believed I was about to die”, including:”I felt like an express train was hitting me at 300mph.”
Mr Thomas currently takes one pill containing four drugs a day and his state is”imperceptible” – meaning it can’t be passed on.
After being diagnosed, his spouse Stephen, who met, does not have HIV.
About 101,600 people in the united kingdom live with HIV however, there’s still a lot of stigma across the disease.
HIV can progress to AIDS when it is not treated, but patients in wealthy countries do not develop AIDS should they undergo treatment.
Thomas said:”Many men and women live in fear and shame of having HIV, but I refuse to become one of these today. We will need to divide the blot and for all.
“I’m speaking out because I wish to help others and make a difference.”
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