My name is Neila Duston, I’m 16 years old and I have HIV. I don’t have it because I had sex or something like that. I have it because I got in a car accident and I’ve lost a lot of blood so they did a blood transfusion but it didn’t go as planned. The blood they gave me wasn’t good blood so I had to live with this misfortune… So here I am now in Ontario. The accident happened a year ago back in Montreal when I was living there. I was in the car with my best friend Lea in the back, with her mom who was sitting in the front and her uncle who was driving. I don’t really remember how it happened, but all I coul hear was Lea screaming and crying while shouting ‘’ Mom ! Neila ! Please don’t leave me ! ‘’ and then her voice vanished. When I woke up, I saw that I was in a hospital bed. My mom and Sara we’re asleep side by side on a chair. I looked around and saw a bag full of blood and a tube that was connected streight to my left arm. I started to panick a little but my mom woke up because of the noise I was making while trying to sit down properly. She looked at me and tears we’re rolling down her cheeks. She said while crying ‘’ Oh my baby ! ‘’ Lea woke up to the sound of my mom’s voice and saw that I was awake. She also started to cry but instead of saying somethng she came up to me and hugged me. All I could say was ‘’ What happened ? ‘’ because I was totally confused. Lea sat beside me on the bed and said that her uncle was driving me home and right infront of my house a truck hit us and me and her mom had the biggest impact because it was on ours ide but before she could finished the story of what was happening she burst into tears. I looked at my mom and my mom told me that Lea’s mom passed away on the way to the hosptital. I put my hand infront of my mouth and cried for what seems like hours wrapped in Lea’s arms. A week later, the doctor told me that I was able to go back home. I was happy, but also scared because it brought back bad memories and it was going to be as hard for Lea because she was living with us since the accident and her mom’s death was right infront of our house. Then, every night, I had nightmares. I was always dreaming about the accident, but instead of seeing blackness and ony Lea’s voice, I saw the whole accident right infront of me. I could see Lea trying to get out of the ambulance to go towards the other one that me and her mom we’re in, but two men we’re holding her. I looked infront of me and there was her uncle’s car with blood surrended with blood and on the other side there was the ambulance where me and Lea’s mom we’re both in. I was always waking up while screaming because of my dream. I was always trying to tell Lea that everything was going to be alrgiht, even though I knew that I was wrong. But she couldn’t hear me. The only the thing she was doing was crying and screaming our names.Then the two ambulances drove away, leaving me there infront of the crashed car. I screamed again and again Lea’s name for her to come back but my mom always woke me up because I was screaming while sleeping and I always had dried tears running down my face. One month later, I started to feel sick and tired so my mom took me to see my doctor because I started to have fever and my fever grew higher and higher. They took some of my blood to do a blood test. One week later the hospital called my mom for us to go see my doctor and that was when I felt the whole world stop around me. Right when he said the word ‘’ HIV ‘’ .
