Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gareth’s promise to fight Hivspread
Teaming up with royalty to get people tested
GARETH Thomas plans to work with Prince Harry to help fight the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The rugby legend, who yesterday revealed he is HIV positive, has several goals including inspiring millions to get themselves tested.
Gareth, 45, tells the Mirror: “Like me, Prince Harry wants to break the stigma around HIV and he has already done a lot of great work.
“We are planning to work together now. To do something with him will be really powerful.”
Harry said last night: “Gareth, you are an absolute legend. In sharing your story of being HIV+, you are saving lives and shattering stigma, by showing you can be strong and resilient while living with HIV.”
Gareth approached the Sunday Mirror to go public about his HIV diagnosis. He said: “I’m really happy with the way the Sunday Mirror told my story to the world.”
He added: “It got the message across in the right way. I’m so thankful to the Mirror for its support for my campaign and for telling my story how I wanted it to be told.”
We can reveal that Sir Elton John – who has launched a global HIV coalition with Harry – phoned Gareth to praise his bravery.
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Gareth’s pal Prince William also sent a message of support, saying yesterday: “Courageous as ever – legend on the pitch and legend off it.”
Gareth hopes that he and Harry can have the same impact on public awareness of the condition as the princes’ late mother Princess Diana.
She was credited with changing attitudes towards HIV and AIDS in 1987 when she was pictured at the UK’S first AIDS clinic, shaking hands with a man dying from the condition.
Until then, many people thought it could be contracted by touch.
Former Wales and British Lions captain Gareth said: “Quite often I look at that photo of Diana at the clinic next to those frail-looking men and then I look at a photo of myself out on my bike and it motivates me because I can see how things have changed and advanced.
“It also makes me realise how lucky I am because I see what it was like for them and I know 30 years ago that could have been me.”
Gareth and Harry, who turned 35 yesterday, are in talks with the UK’S leading HIV and sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust about how and when they will work together.
It is understood they will focus on the need for more people to be tested to help Britain meet its target of eradicating new transmissions by 2030.
Harry has carried on his mother’s work. He has gone public with his own HIV tests to raise awareness, while his charity Sentebale provides healthcare and education to children affected by HIV and AIDS in Africa.
In the Sunday Mirror exclusive yesterday, Gareth said: “I’ve chosen to speak out about this in the Sunday Mirror because it’s the paper I trust...
“I’ve been living with this [HIV] secret for years. I had a fear people would treat me like a leper because of a lack of knowledge.
“I was feeling suicidal. Wanting to die... felt like the easier way out but you have to confront things. Many people live in fear and shame of having HIV, but I refuse to be one of them now. I’m speaking out because I want to help others.”
He has now also talked about the support he has received from the likes of Sir Elton, who runs his own AIDS foundation. Gareth said: “He’s brilliant. He rang me the other day while I was on the M4 and said ‘Gareth, it’s Elton.’ I had to pull the car over.
“We had a massively supportive chat about me speaking out. He said, ‘What you’re doing is a brilliant thing. It’s really brave of you. I’ll support you all the way’.”
Gareth, who in 2009 became the world’s most prominent athlete to come out as gay, added: “Elton works tirelessly to raise awareness and I’ve been to a lot of his [charity] dinners.
“My actress friend Samantha Womack was one of the first people I told and [rugby star] Jonny Wilkinson and [Erasure singer] Andy Bell have also been so supportive.” Gareth, who is known as Alfie in the rugby world
and is a Cardiff City fan, completed the gruelling Ironman Wales triathlon yesterday to show he is still strong despite his diagnosis.
There were constant shouts from the crowd of “Come on, Alfie” just hours after he revealed his diagnosis in the Sunday Mirror.
He hugged his parents and husband Stephen in emotional scenes during the event in Tenby, Pembs, which involves a 2.4-mile swim, cycling 112 miles then running a marathon (26.2 His time of 12 hours, 18mins and 29secs, put him 413th out of 2,039.
Gareth, who only has to take one tablet a day and says he is even fitter than in his playing days, wants millions of Brits to get tested for HIV.
He said: “So many people think HIV only happens to gay people or people in Africa, but that’s the biggest load of b ***** ks ever. HIV doesn’t discriminate. I felt HIV was never going to affect me, but it did.”
Over 93,000 people are receiving HIV treatment in Britain, but about one in eight with the virus are undiagnosed and unaware. Some people with HIV do not show symptoms for years.
Four in 10 of those diagnosed in 2017 were told at a late stage of their infection, meaning damage to the immune system had already begun.
There is currently no cure for HIV or AIDS. But advances in medicine mean people living with HIV in countries with good access to healthcare very rarely develop AIDS once they are receiving treatment.
With the right treatment, life expecmiles). tancy for a person who carries the virus is now approaching that of a person who tests negative. Gareth, who made his international debut in 1995, winning 100 caps for Wales as a rugby union star, and four as a rugby league player, retired in 2011.
Gareth, an ITV pundit at the Rugby World Cup starting on Friday, added: “People need to know it’s OK to have a sexual health test. You don’t need to be gay to have an HIV test.
“The amount of people who don’t know their status is frightening, it’s
got to be in the millions. People need to be tested and to know.
“Don’t be afraid of taking the test and it being positive, be afraid of not knowing if you’re HIV positive or not.
“It’s all right to be scared of the test, but it’s better to know than be in doubt. If you don’t know, you can’t look after yourself or those you love.
“AIDS is what HIV progresses to if you don’t know you’ve got it, and the later you leave it the worse it gets.”
Elton rang me as I was on M4 to say it was brave & that he will support me all the way GARETH ON THE BACKING HE HAS BEEN GIVEN FROM FRIENDS