A man who contracted the HIV virus from a blood transfusion when he was seven spoke about living with the virus at a week-long program about HIV and AIDS at the University of Denver last week.

Shawn Decker and Gwenn Barringer spoke last Tuesday as part of the DUPB-sponsored HIV and AIDS Awareness Week about “A Boy, A Girl, A Virus, and the Relationship that Happened Anyway.”

The two talked about how they met and why they were speaking to college students today.

Barringer got involved in HIV education in college. She then went to graduate school and decided to do her thesis on the prevention of HIV in high school because she thought that kids should be informed about the diseases before college.

An AIDS organization which she contacted to get information put her in touch with Decker, who was HIV positive.

Decker was born with hemophilia and contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. However, he was not tested for HIV until he was 12.

When he found out, he thought he had AIDS, but he was only HIV positive, a carrier of the AIDS-causing virus.

When Decker was diagnosed, he was infected for five years already. His parents told his sixth grade teacher, which led to Decker getting kicked out of school.

The next year Decker and his parents got lawyers and doctors to convince the school board to repeal its desicion. Decker went back to school at the beginning of seventh grade.

He was afraid of how other students were going to respond.

His school gave a flyer to all the students telling them that there was a kid in the school who was HIV positive. He got through high school and college without being singled out again.

Decker was drawn to Barringer because of her involvement in HIV and AIDS education. At age 20, Decker wanted to start educating people about HIV.

He set up a Web site to inform others about his disease: www.mypetvirus.com. Now, Decker and Barringer use the Web site to spread their words of knowledge as well as going to many colleges to share their story to students.

Although, Decker is HIV positive, he and Barringer can still have sex normally, but they have to use a condom all the time. Gwenn gets tested often for HIV. She said, “It’s important to know your HIV status.”

Decker said it helps him to talk about HIV and be around people who care about him.