Sameer Sharma (name changed) had taken his wife, Sunita Devi (name changed) to the city hospital in Giridih as she often came down with high fever and cold. “This was back in 2005. After the initial round of checkups, she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and started medication. After two weeks, paralysis struck her and it was only then that we brought her to a private clinic in Dhanbad. Soon after, I was called in by the doctor for an HIV test. Then, my world came shattering when I realized it was positive for me as well and that it was me, in fact, who had infected his wife, too,” said Sharma.
Few weeks back, their first child, who was just six months old, died of malaria, as diagnosed by the village doctors in Deoghar. Thereafter, the city doctors in Dhanbad suspected that the baby might have died due to the HIV virus.
On the occasion of World Aids Day, Sameer Sharma, an HIV positive man narrated his story to The Pioneer as how he is battling with HIV for the last 10 years.
Sharma and his wife who were both found to be HIV positive now and with their first child dead could only see death staring at them from everywhere. “Soon discrimination started at all levels. Even before my entire family found out, the entire village had come to know about it and soon we became outcasts. The village started talking rubbish about my character, the family questioned about the same. My wife was trying to survive HIV and the paralysis, which was an after-effect of the wrong diagnosis by the doctors in Giridih. Now, the real fight began where we both had to just accept the truth, which was not easy,” said Sharma.
Sharma said that his life came to a standstill and he only felt committing suicide all the time. “Though, I would often feel sick and my wife was paralytic and I had to run around for everything on my own. From buying groceries to medicines to cooking, cleaning and taking care of both of us, everything was my job. Out of depression, I had quit my job and had no source of regular income, thus, faced more difficulties in making ends meet. All I could think of was to drink alcohol and smoke and lie on the cold, hard ground wishing for death. But, soon came two saviours in my life and changed it forever,” said Sharma.
Sharma met two HIV positive men at the Integrated Counselling and Test Centres (ICTC) at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi late 2005, about a couple of months later.
“Once during my visit to the ICTC at RIMS, I met these two men who were living a normal life with the HIV and they both came forward to rescue me from this dark abyss. Initially, it took me some time to get used to the fact that this disease is not going to kill me right away. I can live and breathe and aim to have a normal life with the help of proper medication and treatment. I started attending the counseling sessions that is run by the Jharkhand State Network for people living with HIV/AIDS on a regular basis. I would often hang out with these two men who had been quite inspiring and taught me how to face and in fact, live happily with the disease and try to defeat it. I would often go back home to Giridih and educate my wife as to how to deal with the disease. The awareness sessions helped me survive the disease, indeed and I would not have lived this far without their help. It’s been good, long 10 years and counting for both of us,” said Sharma.
Since 2005, a typical day in Sharma’s life is restricted to praying, eating well-balanced meals, having medicines on time, educating other HIV positive men, women and children about the disease and help them fight it in a better way.