Story of Hope: Ryan, USA

EGPAF

Ryan Darling is a young man in the United States living with HIV. After getting involved in Dance Marathon while attending UCLA, he helped to start Dance Marathon at the College of the Holy Cross. He shares his inspirational story of how Dance Marathon and EGPAF changed his life.

When I began my college career at UCLA in 2000, I expected the experience to change my life. But I could never have guessed at the ways  college would do so, or how interconnected some of those ways might be.  I wanted to fill my time with experiences that I would never forget.  And I did – from studying political science to taking on student leadership positions to spending a year studying abroad in Australia.

I returned from studying abroad at the beginning of 2003.  Nearly finished with my senior year of college, I fell ill.  I was sick enough at the time to return home for two weeks and withdraw from the academic term.  While my initial doctors’ visits showed no apparent cause for my illness, my doctor insisted I repeat the tests when I returned to Los Angeles.  I can still vividly remember the day: the sun sinking low over the coastal hills, the air mild and faintly tinged with the smell of the ocean, the friends I stopped to speak to along the way, and the worried feeling in the pit of my stomach.  This time, I tested positive for HIV.  I had no idea how to proceed, and was so emotionally paralyzed by the result that I didn't seek treatment. My health got worse and worse.

Read more.