My name is Forrest Waymire-Cooper

I speak publicly on HIV/AIDS

awareness in schools and educational

environments. I speak of my personal

experiences, trials, and accomplishments

My name is Forrest S. Waymire-Cooper; I was

born on May 29th 1970, and I’m currently living

in Milwaukee Wisconsin with my partner Gary

C. Waymire-Cooper and our two cats Double

and Minerva.

I was born in Provo, Utah and raised in Orem,

Utah until I was 18 years old; were I graduated

high school in May of 1988. In August of 1988

I relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah and in

August of 1989 I was diagnosed having the HIV

virus.

I lived in Salt Lake until 1996; I later moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada and worked until 1999.

Later in that year, I moved to Milwaukee,

Wisconsin where I continued to work in

Mortgage and IT. I have worked in IT and the

Mortgage fields for the last 11 years.

I went full blown AIDS in the winter of 2003

with a viral load of over 750,000 copies of the

AIDS virus and a CD4 count of 27 which is next

to death.

After taking the HIV/AIDS medications for a

little over a year I had stopped for personal

reasons including developing Toxic Peripheral

Neuropathy which is a painful nerve disease

form the HIV/AIDS medications.

This would be the first time I have taken

HIV/AIDS medications since 1989 when at that

time they had little knowledge about the disease

or the medications. They prescribed me a

medication named AZT which they didn’t know

how to prescribe so they would over dose you

on it causing more side effects.

In December of 2006 I went back to a status of

full blown AIDS and currently on disability and

back on HIV/AIDS medications.