{"id":362,"date":"2026-10-09T12:48:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T12:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondpositive.org\/sluktest\/?page_id=362"},"modified":"2026-10-09T12:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T12:48:32","slug":"ashley-murpy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondpositive.org\/sluktest\/our-campaigns\/positive-people\/ashley-murpy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashley Murpy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ashely Murphy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was born with\u00a0HIV 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was on life support\u00a0until 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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still struggle with anxiety but I found a way to stand up to the haters – living openly and without shame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there I spoke at UNAIDS\u00a0in Geneva and have participated in the UN General Assembly in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m so much more than just HIV positive. I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashely Murphy I was born with\u00a0HIV 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\u00a0until I was six months old. My doctor, Dr Stan Read, and his staff fought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":326,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-with-title","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-362","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t