Joyce Butler: We have to love the children, we have the genuine love for them, because they require love.
Female Speaker: Twelve-year old Michelle Butler is one of the three children of Joyce and Nathaniel Butler. All three are adopted; all three are the children of HIV infected mothers. Two, Michelle and her twelve-year old brother Shawn, have the virus. Ten-year-old sister Karen does not.
Michelle Butler: Well, I feel that she's lucky and I'm not saying that I'm not lucky, because I know it will just keeps me in good health. But it's just good for my sister that she won't have to take all those medicines every day.
Female Speaker: Shawn and Michelle are both doing well especially Michelle, whose virus is undetectable. Considering her medical history, that's a great tribute to combination therapies, commonly known as cocktails.
Dr. Ross Mckinney: She got very sick early, so sick that we had made funeral arrangements, literally for the upcoming Sunday, it was expected that she'd have a service. But Michelle was a little tougher than we projected and that was when she was maybe 18, 19 months old and here we are almost a decade later and she's still around.
Michelle Butler: I'm feeling really great, since I'm on the new cocktails because like years ago, I used to feel bad almost every day, and I used to be hospitalized for like a week, or two weeks something like that. So now, since I'm on a new cocktail, I feel much, much better.
Female Speaker: In the years since HIV started preying on children, the virus has gone from a swift sure killer, to something survivable.
Michael: We had always prepared for that dark day you know where we wouldn't have her around anymore. But now you're thinking about junior high, you're thinking about high school, dating, you know boys, you know, that's going to be interesting.
Dr. Mark Kline: We have some HIV infected adolescents now who we know are sexually active. We counsel abstinence. We counsel about safer sex practices, but we know that compliance with that counseling is not 100%.
Andrina Campbell: It's a very difficult and it's a very touchy situation with our teens. I mean sex is blatant in front of them, 24X7 it's on the television and radio and in music, so we just have to rely on their better judgment and to give them good education and good resources.
Dr. Catherine Wilfert: There are also have some decision making to do later on about do they or don't they consider having children on their own. If so, are they biological children or the adopted children.
Female Speaker: The 15 year old from the Bronx says she tells boys to leave her alone.
Female Speaker 1: I just tell them that I'm not interested in guys right now. I need to stay in school and get into the books. I don't want to get married. I don't want to have kids. I want to live my own life, I don't know, by myself, I guess.
Andrina Campbell: Tell me what happened.
Female Speaker: The 15 year old has just found out more people at school know she's infected with the virus than she thought.
Female Speaker 1: In a way I was concerned about if it spread around the school. But in a way I didn't care but if it does spread around the school, you know, I'll be mad.
Nancy Calles: We had one teacher who was pregnant, who refused to care for, to teach a child in her class that was HIV positive. The school said you have to teach this child so she quit her job rather than be in the same classroom with this child.
Female Speaker 2: You have to bury all of your feelings, your emotions. You're not allowed to discuss it with anyone other than the doctors. You can't even tell your friends. You can't even tell your relatives.
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