Welcome back. My next guest had
her life turned upside down when
she was diagnosed with HIV in 10
at the height of the AIDS crisi.
She was raising three small
children in Spokane at the time,
and she knew she would face
stigma and discrimination while
just simply trying to survive.
Julie Lewis is now reflecting on
how that diagnosis changed her e
with her new book, Still Positi.
Julie Lewis, welcome back to New Day.
You've been here two other time,
I know, But to talk about this ,
this is the first.
So tell us,
first hearing about hearing that diagnosis.
You had three kids.
You were literally getting readr
packing up when you got that phe
call to move across the country.
Tell us about that.
Well, we were actually moving
across the state of Washington.
We're in Puyallup,
and we were moving to Spokane,
but we were packing boxes.
And yeah, I I had a blood
transfusion in 1984.
So that's where the HIV came fr.
And it was my Doctor Who had
delivered my oldest daughter,
and he just said one of the people who.
Who donated blood for your blood
transfusion has AIDS now and sou
need to get a test and to be hot
I've been really sick for a year with
no good explanation and so I jut
immediately kind of knew like this is it,
you know you didn't really need the test.
Well I I did take the test and you had
to take two tests back then screening
test and then a more accurate test and
but after my screening test came back.
Positive.
Then they said everyone in your
whole family needs to get teste.
And that was like the moment that was really,
you know, hard because I had a 2 year old,
the four year old and six year d
that I'm taking them to get HIV tests.
You know,
back in the day when it was ver,
very much a death sentence for many people.
And that was a palpable moment in the
book because you had to wait a weekend or.
Yeah, they make it the four day.
Yeah. And so anyway,
you know, my oldest daughter.
Was breastfed and then my othero
kids were born to an HIV positive mom.
So yeah, the and the ones
that were born, you know,
to me there was no treatment or anything.
So they had a 25 to 30% chance
of being infected.
So that was the worst part,
was waiting to see if my husband
and my children were infected ad
they were not and they weren't.
So when the test results came
in at the initial, you know,
a lot of people that's just like a real.
Depressing, hard moment for me.
I was so relieved that it was just me,
you know, and where we're movin.
I literally got in my moving trk
after those results came and was like,
let's go
and done. The hardest part
you thought, well,
in my mind I was thinking, you ,
I could do this, you know,
by myself and Scott's here if I,
you know, it was just like you
just kind of do what you can
with that kind of information.
Tell me what it was like then gg
forward raising a family through the.
Trauma and the stigma because
you're also unwell at this poin.
You're you're we'll start your
regimen of why I think you've sd
60,000 plus pills in this 39 ye.
What was it like kind of
raising that family with this
yeah over you. Well,
it was a lot. It was a lot.
And there wasn't a guidebook to tell you
how to parent with AIDS in your family.
And so with a 2 year old and a
four year old and a six year ol,
we just didn't tell very many
people for four years and until
my oldest daughter asked us.
And that's a long story in itself, but.
You know once we told Ryan
four years later he was 6,
if you want your personal information
broadcast to the whole world,
just tell a six year old,
you know they're going to tell everyone
and and we check her at Albertsons, right.
And then the kindergarten class,
well, you I think he was in
second grade but it's like.
Yeah, it was a lot and and
yet he was Comic Relief.
And once, once it was out there,
it allowed me as a teacher to jn
a speakers Bureau and do a lot
of educating about the disease.
So it's a bit of a relief. Then in 1994,
so four years later is when you
wait in public. Yeah.
So the whole first part of my b,
my books in three sections.
The whole first part is that those years
of silence and and just waiting to die,
I was given 3/3 to five years to
live and then the middle sectio.
This community of people on the
speakers Bureau that that we wee
AIDS advocates together and thas
I tried to tell other people's stories
and I got permission to do that.
But it's like I just wanted to people,
especially now where diversity
is just people,
seemed to have permission rightw
to just be really mean to each other.
And with 8 billion people in the
world we have to start celebratg
diversity and and for us.
Our differences were our strengh
on that speakers Bureau.
You know,
you
you talked about that three to five years,
how your book is so full of hopn
the sense how do you wait to dit
fill 39 years with incredible h?
And I know some of it has to do with the
3030 project and other things that you're
doing. Well, I mean it.
It's a weird place to live your
life having three little kids.
It's hard to be sad because
kids are great, you know?
And I didn't want them to, even if I died,
to Remember Me as a sad mother, you know?
So. So they were a great distraction.
I live my life a little in deni.
I would talk about the future even though
I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen,
because I felt like that was
better than nothing, you know?
And then.
At the same time, I'm writing letters to my
kids As for their adult self, if I do die.
So it's it was this kind of layered existence
of trying to deal with reality but not,
you know, and trying to be posi.
So that's the name. Still posit.
Give us a give us a review.
On the 3030 project, it was a nw
30th anniversary of writing out.
You had AIDS anniversary.
You decided to build 30 clinics.
For the 30 years,
tell us where we are now.
Yeah. So in 2014, we launched the 3030
project and our goal was to fune
building of 30 healthcare facilities in
areas that lacked healthcare ac.
And so we had the finances
for that raised in 2019.
But despite a couple COVID dela,
our last two buildings,
one in Kenya and 1:00 in India,
are being built right now.
So they should be done next yea.
So that will be a 10 year,
10 year project.
We ended up building 30 healthce
facilities with construction for change in
for 18 organizations in nine countries.
Oh wow, it was a lot BB and I
know there's more work to come.
And we should mention one of yor
kids is music producer Ryan Lew,
which I know you have been real upfront
in the book about the the specil
gifts all your kids have and an.
And how special it was that he s
able to use his celebrity to he?
For sure. For sure.
The whole Macklemore team was so
involved in raising that money,
they actually added a dollar
per ticket for called the.
Plus one campaign,
wonderful to all of their shows,
not just for the 3034,
but for a couple other
philanthropic organizations that
they they have support. Yeah,
Thank you so much.
I can't recommend this cement.
Can I say that all the proceeds
from the book are going to a new
fund we open and all the procee,
the net proceeds will go to
healthcare organizations workinn
access and equity Legacy projec.
Yeah, the 3030 project, Legacy .