Diagnosed in 1984
posted: 07/02/2011
Jonathan Grimshaw was one for the first people diagnosed with HIV in the UK, helping set up Body Positive and the Landmark in London. This Sunday he was the subject of a two page feature in The Observer.
By the beginning of 1987, Jonathan Grimshaw was the UK's most visible HIV-positive man. He looked striking: he was 32, bald and he often wore a bow-tie. He spoke eloquently about a terrible disease, something he'd been diagnosed with soon after the tests became available in February 1984.
With no specific treatments, his prognosis was not good, but he believed his best chances of survival lay within the realms of activism, honesty and education.
So he wasn't at all surprised one day to be seated on a sofa for an explicit live television programme with Claire Rayner. It was the first National Aids Week.
Read Jonathan's story here.
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