When Lolisa Gibson-Hunte was first found to be HIV positive at age of 17, she could have wallowed in her sadness and given up on life.Instead she became determined to learn as much as she could about the disease and devoted her time to educating and breaking down stereotypes on the virus.She spends countless hours speaking at high schools, colleges and churches across the US; she has also penned an autobiography about her journey called ‘The Way I See It’.Mrs Gibson-Hunte will be the featured guest speaker at a public forum on the topic of HIV/Aids, held at The Bermuda Society of Arts in City Hall, next Monday from 5.45pm until 7.30pm.Organised by The Department of Health, the forum is part of the activities held to recognise HIV Awareness Month.Raised in Delaware, Mrs Gibson-Hunte’s story began when she was 16 years old and started getting sick.Her doctor suggested that she get tested for HIV/Aids and she was “shocked” to find out she was HIV positive.“I didn’t really know anything about HIV so I thought I was immediately going to die,” she told The Royal Gazette.“I was scared, but took the initiative to start asking about HIV and that’s when I was able to learn more about it and what it actually means.”Due to the high level of virus in her blood, doctors believed the virus had been with her for at least ten years.The conclusion was made that Mrs Gibson-Hunte most likely was born with the virus or contracted it from her mother’s breast milk. Her mother was tested and found to also have the disease.Mrs Gibson-Hunte said she had to lean on her mother and they got through the challenging time together.After the first six months she began to accept the diagnosis and threw herself into researching and better understanding the illness. She then made it her mission to share with and educate others about HIV/AIDS.She said: “When I first found out I had HIV there was no one there that I could really speak to about it, so I decided I wanted to be that person that other people could go to just talk and learn more about it.”Her story has been featured in a variety of media outlets such as the ESSENCE Magazine, CBS Early Show, MTV News and CNN.She said the most rewarding part of sharing her story is changing how people see the virus.Mrs Gibson-Hunte wants people to understand the seriousness in staying protected. It’s also important that they have open and honest dialogue with those people closest to you, she said.Despite the illness, she was able to meet and fall in love with her husband and they now have a three-year-old son.They have taken the necessary precautions to ensure both her husband and child remain HIV negative, she explained.She said there were still a lot of stigmas attached to HIV/Aids. Some people think you can tell someone has the disease just by looking at them; while others incorrectly assume you can ‘catch it’ by drinking from the same cup, sharing the same silverware or just by kissing an infected person.Sometimes when she goes to speak at certain functions or at schools, she said children are shocked to find out she has the virus.“That’s when you get the gasps and open mouths and people surprised to hear this is your story,” she said.Mrs Gibson-Hunte said she takes daily medications so that she can live a relatively normal life in New York with her family.The Department of Health’s public forum on the topic of HIV/Aids will take place on Monday evening. Mrs Gibson-Hunte will have some of her books ‘The Way I See It’, which retail for $15, available at the event.Other panellists include: Nurse Kim Ball, Assessment Officer Dy-Juan DeRoza, STAR representative Carolyn Armstrong, Infectious Disease Physician Michael Ashton, Internist Wilbert Warner, Internist and Gynecologist Wendy Woods.Useful website: www.lolisagibson.com