Ashely Murphy
I was born with HIV in 1998, and by six weeks of age I was in a coma. My mom was an alcoholic & addicted to crack & was barely able to get by herself.
I was on life support until I was six months old. My doctor, Dr Stan Read, and his staff fought to save me. At six months of age they wanted to move me to a foster home for palliative care. They called more than 200 families and no one would take a baby who was “dying of AIDS”.
Finally, they found a home. A couple who already had six kids, five of them with special needs. They came to Sick Kids to pick me up, and were told I had a month to live. They decided they were going to give me all the love they could for whatever time I had left.
Over the next ten years I was sick on and off, had a few surgeries, had a feeding tube inserted, was tested and found to have learning disabilities, mild cerebral palsy, and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
As I grew, I started to see how unfairly people with HIV were treated, and so I started to speak up. I started speaking when I was ten – it felt empowering, like I had some control over this disease. Initially, I only spoke at medical conferences where there would be no media present.
When I was twelve I was asked to film a documentary for a Global-TV 16×9 program which aired internationally. You can watch it here: External YouTube Link
Three days after that video was filmed my birth mom, who I had maintained a supervised relationship with died in a fire on Christmas Eve. That was where my journey with mental illness began, and I have had anxiety since then.
I still struggle with anxiety but I found a way to stand up to the haters – living openly and without shame.
I started speaking about growing up with HIV at WE Days in stadiums across North America when I was sixteen – which were live-streamed to millions.
From there I spoke at UNAIDS in Geneva and have participated in the UN General Assembly in New York.
I’m so much more than just HIV positive. I’m a singer, actor, aunt, sister, friend, girlfriend, skateboarder & many other things. Faith, hard work and lots of love is what got me here. My viral load is undetectable, I can get married, have children & live a pretty long life.