A SCOTTISH comedian who has just had a successful run at the Edinburgh festival has thanked the NHS staff who helped him following his HIV diagnosis.
Scott Agnew, who was diagnosed two years ago has praised the work of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Brownlee Centre, who he said “put him back together when he was in a very dark place.”
Scott said: “Without their help I might have fallen through the cracks. It’s scary to think what would have happened if they had not helped me.”
Two years ago, following his diagnosis, Scott said he hit rock bottom.
“I wasn’t working, I had drug and mental health issues, I had lived in ten different places in ten years. The team at the Brownlee, as well as the Terrence Higgins Trust put me back on my feet. Now, just two years on I have a tenancy, I am back working and have just had a successful run at the Edinburgh festival. I am something approaching a normal human being again.
“They don’t just look after you physically, they really care and look after all aspects of your life. They helped me build my career back up and I’ve even been able to put together a show about being HIV positive.
“There really is something special here. One nurse brought me in a bag of her brother’s clothes which he didn’t need any more – it’s the personal touches like that. There is a proper friendly, family atmosphere. You feel cared for, not just treated.
“As far as my treatment goes I only take one tablet a day and that keeps my viral load down; it’s undetectable. There is a lot of ignorance around HIV; people don’t know how far things have advanced. It’s no longer a death sentence and the public don’t know that. I will live as long as anyone else.
“HIV is now a manageable disease like diabetes.”
Scott now spends a lot of time educating young people about HIV and staying safe. There are currently more than 5,000 people in Scotland with the condition, with around 50 new cases this year.
He said: “HIV is a bit of a mystery for young people now. They didn’t grow up in the 1980s and 90s so have no stigma to bring to the table. I tell them it’s so important to take precautions, but there is a life for me after HIV.
“I never encounter stigma here at the Brownlee. These people are second to none and I am still here because of them.”
Dr Roger Wong, the Centre’s Clinical Coordinator/Psychiatrist at the Bownlee said: “It is so important to care for the whole person, to identify all the problems that affect them, to try to meet all their needs whether medical, financial, emotional or social. Prescribing antiretroviral medication is only a small part of providing effective care for people living with HIV.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here