Denise – 4th July Girl!

NAME:

COUNTRY:

AGE:

WORK:

FAMILY:

TREATMENT:

Denise (pictured here on the right)

Rwanda

11 years

School student

Mom, Dad and 3 brothers

Began antiretroviral therapy in 2006

When (RED) first met Denise in May 2006, she was lying ill in hospital in Kigali with full blown AIDS. Her parents were desperately worried she wouldn’t make it to her 8th birthday on 4th July that year.

Fortunately Denise was started on antiretroviral therapy which is available free in Rwanda thanks in part to financing from (RED) and the Global Fund. As a result, Denise not only made it to her 8th birthday, but by August 2006 she was out of hospital and back at school.

Denise’s swift recovery is another example of the “Lazarus-like” ability of antiretroviral therapy to restore very sick people with AIDS back to health in a short period of time.

It’s now over three years since Denise started her treatment, and she is thriving, enjoying school and taking her antiretroviral (ARV) pills every day. The only clue of how sick Denise was just three years ago is some paralysis in her left arm, a result of an AIDS-related neurological condition.

Denise’s Mom and Dad are also HIV positive and on antiretroviral therapy. Happily her three younger brothers are all healthy and HIV negative.

While Denise’s parents struggle to make ends meet they ensure their family has love in abundance. And, thanks to having their health, they also have hope for the future.