John gave me hope
Marc was diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s and is desperate to find the man who supported him in his darkest hour…
Marc remembers 28 November 1986 like it was yesterday. It was the day he was told he was HIV positive at a time when the stigma surrounding the condition was at its peak and a diagnosis was considered a death sentence. And Marc was just 17 years old.
‘This country was deeply homophobic and racist then,’ says Marc, who grew up in Brixton, south London. ‘I knew I wasn’t the only gay man in the world. What I certainly felt was that I was the only black gay man.’
Frightening time
‘When I got my results,’ he continues, ‘I don’t remember crying. I was just numb. I spent a lot of time thinking about death, dying and illness. It was a frightening, lonely time.’
Struggling to cope with the situation, Marc found help at the Landmark Centre, which supported people living with HIV. There, he had regular counselling sessions with a volunteer called John, who became a lifeline for Marc.
Marc went on to have treatment for HIV and has been living with the condition for 35 years. In this week’s
Saved by a Stranger, Anita Rani helps him track down John, to thank him.
The reunion is an emotional one as John and Marc recall how many young men lost their lives during the 1980s AIDS crisis.
‘Seeing John makes me remember the people who didn’t survive that dark time and I’m glad I had the opportunity to tell him that someone he helped all those years ago made it through,’ says Marc, a public-health worker.
‘I’m incredibly grateful to John. I don’t know where I’d have been today without those sessions with him. He gave me hope.’