Anjela Cavalier takes the same pill every day. It promises her a normal, healthy life.
Cavalier was diagnosed with HIV in 2001. She is among merely 34 million people around the world with the virus.
On Sunday, millions of people showed their support around the globe in honor of World AIDS Day. Thanks to the awareness the day brings, more and more people are living normal and healthy lives, just like Cavalier.
"It’s changed my life, because a person like me, I have never been in the hospital," said Cavalier. "Never had a broken bone, never spent the day in the hospital other then to visit people."
Cavailer said because she decided to get tested and the doctors caught the disease early, she has been able to live a healthy and normal life.
"When I was diagnosed...it didn’t deter me as this is the end,” said Cavalier.
She has even become a strong voice for people with HIV and AIDS, and was crowned Miss Aids Service Association of Pinellas County (ASAP).
"What a lot of people don’t know is that, people who contract HIV kind of look at it like a death sentence and it's not," said Cavalier. "If you take care of yourself and you get checked regularly, you live with it just like every disease.”
Part of the reason people with HIV can go on to living relatively normal lives is due to research, modern medicine and people coming together to raise money and attention to the cause.
The fourth annual Santa Speedo Run took place on Sunday in Ybor City. Runners were barely clothed, but they carried a heavy message: wearing so little means so much.
Even with modern medicine, HIV and AIDS is a killer around the would. Getting tested is the best way to know your options.