A woman who got HIV on her wedding night has been living with it for 10 years. Most of the time, couples celebrate big wedding anniversarie...
A woman who got HIV on her wedding night has been living with it for 10 years.
Most of the time, couples celebrate big wedding anniversaries like the fifth, tenth, etc., by telling stories of their love and promising to stay together forever.
A Florida woman, on the other hand, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of when she got HIV instead of her 10th wedding anniversary.
She didn't know that the man she was married to had HIV because he wouldn't tell her.
She didn't find out she had HIV until a few months after their wedding when she went for an HIV test.
Renee 'LadyByrd' Burgess-Benson tells her story on her social media page: "10 years ago on this date, I was first introduced to his HIV.
"Before this date, we'd never done sex without protection. I felt very strongly about it.
"On your wedding night, you should make your marriage official. Well, we did that on our wedding night, but I also got his HIV because of it.I gave him my life, and he took it into his own hands and decided to lie to me in the most understandable way.
She then broke up with the man.
Renee was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, in the United States of America. She has three girls and one boy as her children.
She says she became an HIV fighter in 2008, a few months after she was diagnosed with HIV at the end of 2007.
She is the CEO of LadyByrd Live Foundation, Inc. at the moment.
In one of her encouraging posts, she tells people, "Just because you have HIV doesn't mean you have to be desperate!" I'm so sick of HIV-positive men and women acting like the world will end if they don't have a girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner.
"The thing that bothers me the most is when someone falls in love with me before they even know if I have ten fingers and toes LOL. Even though we both have HIV, that doesn't mean we're a good match, and if you're "hiding" it or not being honest about it, then we can't be together.
I'll never stop being aware. Before saying, "Let's get married," get to know someone.
"Oh, and STOP talking about sex all the time! That... is NOT adorable! Someone won't want you because of your sexuality. It drives people away, if anything. Because if you talk about sex with me, you'll talk about it with everyone you talk to, and that's just ugh!"
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