Lowcountry teen with HIV is happy with easier new treatment

A high school senior has gone from taking pills every day to getting a shot every two months to treat her human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. “It’s a big help,” she said of the injections she gets at the MUSC Children’s Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion.

“When I was younger, I had to take a gigantic pill. Then they shrank it, but it was still yuck.”

The shot, Cabenuva, is a long-acting treatment designed to keep her HIV at an undetectable level. It’s a welcome change for a young woman who’s had HIV since she was a baby. “I think I got it from my mother’s breastfeeding,” she said.

“For the first, I think three years of my life, I didn’t take any medication, and I was extremely sick. I did end up having to go to an orphanage, and in the orphanage, I started taking medication.”

Those difficult early years of illness and loss led to her adoption at age 4. She’s grown up in a loving, supportive family able to make sure she gets the care she needs. That doesn’t mean it’s always been easy.

“When I was younger, I thought having HIV was really scary. And I thought I would never live a normal life. But now that I’m getting a little older, I don’t think that. I would like to tell people who are younger that you can live a normal life. It’s really not that big of a deal.”

Adeline Koay, MBBS, the teenager’s HIV doctor, loves to hear that she feels that way. “I want all my patients to know that they can live normal lives from the get-go. Sometimes they don’t feel that way. I may not be able to change that. But I can try to help them to feel at ease with the diagnosis,” she said.