Yesterday’s Washington Post Sports has a clip from CNN, 20 years ago, when basketball star Magic Johnson announced on TV that he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The date was Nov 7, 1991.
“Where were you when Magic made his announcement? What were your thoughts on Johnson and HIV/AIDS that day and how have they changed?” asks Matt Brooks in his column.
I can’t quite recall where I was. Probably I was at the hospital working, possibly even taking care of a patient with HIV. But I do remember thinking how much courage it must have taken for him to come out with it.
He understood, likely, that he would die soon, and his doctors probably thought the same. There were only two antiviral drugs approved for HIV back then. There was so much stigma, and fear.
Today you can see and listen to him in an interview on ESPN.
It’s great to see Magic Johnson back in the news, even if it’s (just) in a sports sections, and to be reminded that he’s alive, doing OK. The condition we thought was a death sentence has become a chronic illness, with so many drugs available for treatment it’s hard to keep track.
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