My 21-year battle with HIV, cancer led me to become patient advocate

Sally Kwenda, 51, a HIV'AIDs survivor. Kwenda was diagnosed with the virus in 1999, and is now a patient advocate. December 1, 2020. [Courtesy]

Imagine lying in a hospital bed in pain with your condition rapidly deteriorating, then a doctor hands you a brown envelope and announces; “you are HIV positive!”

This is what Sally Kwenda, 51, went through in August 1999.