Due to a contaminated blood transfusion, Ben Banks has lived with HIV since he was two years old.
Banks, now 26, looked to raise awareness through sharing his own experiences living with the disease during World AIDS Week Thursday night at Science Hall.
As a toddler, Banks was diagnosed with a rare cancer, forcing him to go through treatments that caused him to lose his hair five times. While the treatments eliminated the cancer, the process infected him with HIV, something he only learned of 10 years later.
At the age of 12, Banks' life came to a halt. Schools had to invent new policies to suit him directly, and he was put on a daily schedule of AZT medication.
\My friends had to worry about who they were going to sit with at lunch, and I had to worry about HIV,"" Banks said. ""I went through middle school and high school like that prescription bottle-all sealed up.""
Banks said he was able to accept the disease when he requested a wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation, and his doctor denied it by telling him he wasn't going to die, and it should be saved for someone who was. This gave him strength to connect his daily life with the disease, and talk to close friends about his situation.
""When someone they know is involved, that's when they start to care,"" Banks said.
Following his story, Banks demonstrated the disease's spread by giving each person a slip of paper and asking people to shake hands. People who received the positive mark would spread the disease, causing the infected number to jump from 20 to more than 100.
A film compared students' answers to questions about sex and alcohol during the day and at night outside bars showed that students at night had more relaxed answers, and were more inclined to ignore safe sex.
""Protect yourself, because there's so many things that can happen,"" Banks said.
UW-Madison senior Mira Pogoriler said while she was impressed by Banks' positive attitude and openness, the speech felt too much like an after-school special. ""I didn't come here for a talk about safe sex ... it was very similar to things I've heard in middle school and high school.""
However, UW-Madison student Danielle Abraham said, ""Ben stands as a symbol of hope sharing his experiences.""
