I’m proud to have empowered some lives
SPREADING MESSAGE MY GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT I was trapped and vulnerable but found a way out
GARETH THOMAS still gets a kick from the fact that he captained the Lions and was the first Welsh rugby player to reach 100 caps.
He is proud that only Shane Williams managed more tries than him for his country and that he took himself off to France and won a European Cup.
But nothing he achieved in sport means more to ‘Alfie’ than what he is currently doing to improve public understanding of HIV to break the stigma around the condition.
“As a kid growing up all I ever wanted to do was to play rugby,” said Thomas. “It was my dream, my ambition. And I look back on my career with enormous pride.
“I love the sport, I love the mates rugby gave me, I love the life rugby gave me.
“But what life has taught me since is that there are things more important than winning and losing.”
In 2009, Thomas announced he was gay. Ten years later he was effectively outed as being HIV positive. He still remembers being told and “that overriding feeling that my life was over”.
Only it wasn’t. Far from it. Modern antiretroviral medication has made sure of that. Yet the ignorance in the wider world remains. And that has become his new opponent.
Having completed an Ironman to prove he remains more than physically able, he has turned his focus to spreading the message of hope.
“Winning a couple of trophies and a few caps is really nice,” said Thomas, who today launches the Tackle HIV campaign with ViiV Healthcare. “But they sit in the cupboard gathering dust.
“Having the ability to empower somebody’s life for the better, to give them a life they thought they could never have, that’s something I’m most proud of.”
Thomas was at first a reluctant campaigner. Walking down the street he felt people were eyeballing him “because they knew I had HIV”.
But when a survey by the Terrence Higgins Trust revealed that 74 per cent of British adults were aware he had the virus, his mindset changed.
“I realised they were looking at me because I was somebody they could relate to,” he said. “Because at some time or other everyone’s been trapped in a corner, made to feel vulnerable.
“They saw that I had been trapped and vulnerable but found a way out. I hope that can inspire the many people out there who are hiding things about who they are.
“I hope that will be my legacy, way before any talk of running round a rugby field chasing a leather ball.”
● Tackle HIV, a new campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership withViiV Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust, aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit www.tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv.