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Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy, and Science's Surprising Victory Over HIV
“… A thriller, love story, and medical mystery all in one…” —Author Jennifer Steil
TAKE THE PROVERBIAL MAN AND WOMAN WHO LOVE EACH OTHER VERY MUCH AND ADD IN A FEARED VIRUS…
When Dan Hartmann took Susan Slingluff to the Prom in the early 1990s, it was as friends. But when the pair reconnected one night over the phone in 2000, it quickly became something more.
"I was excited to hear from him," Susan told me. "I was also thrilled that he was still alive.”
When Poppy Hillsborough arrived in San Francisco for her second day on the job, she wasn't thinking of falling in love. But then Ted Morgan (not their real names) opened the door to the building where Poppy was starting her job, and everything changed.
"This is the guy," Poppy remembered thinking. "I just knew it from the moment I met him.”
That he had HIV didn’t change the fact that Poppy had always wanted to have a child. It just meant that now, when she dreamed of babies, they had Ted’s pink cheeks and sandy blond hair. And it meant she didn’t know how she’d get pregnant.
ENTER DRS. MYRON “MIKE” COHEN AND PIETRO VERNAZZA. Infectious disease specialists. Colleagues. Scientific detectives.
"Pietro will tell you that he knew what the results of my study would be," Cohen, chief investigator of a study that spanned continents to figure out whether treating people with HIV could prevent the spread of the virus, told me. "But I didn't know. How is it that he could know the results of my study when I didn’t?”
MEET POM-POM MORGAN, POPPY AND TED'S MIRACLE BABY: TEN FINGERS, 10 TOES AND ZERO HIV. The method of her conception was unimaginable just a decade ago. Her parents had sex. Without a condom. And no one got HIV.
WELCOME TO THE NEW ERA OF HIV. Decades after HIV’s emergence as a scourge and an epidemic, we are in an age of long lives, seeming functional cures, and a real promise of an AIDS-free generation. But how did we get here? For every great advance, there are pioneers. The Hartmanns and the Morgans, Cohen and Vernazza are among them. POSITIVELY NEGATIVE tells their stories. Follow along with this short, 13,000-word novella-length nonfiction story, as the couples feel their way toward family and as researchers discover that HIV can be tamed—to the benefit of families and the world.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR POSITIVELY NEGATIVE:
“A book on HIV that’s so enthralling, you won’t be able to put it down until the final word.”
—Jennifer Steil, author, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky and the upcoming The Ambassador’s Wife
“Many rivers have been crossed since Randy Shilts threw down the gauntlet on HIV reporting with And The Band Played On. Positively Negative picks up that gauntlet and runs.”
—Kevin Smokler, author, Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Touched Since You Were In High School
“Positively Negative will touch readers and leave them thinking long after putting it down.”
—Pulitzer Prize winner Wendy Ruderman, author, Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love
TAKE THE PROVERBIAL MAN AND WOMAN WHO LOVE EACH OTHER VERY MUCH AND ADD IN A FEARED VIRUS…
When Dan Hartmann took Susan Slingluff to the Prom in the early 1990s, it was as friends. But when the pair reconnected one night over the phone in 2000, it quickly became something more.
"I was excited to hear from him," Susan told me. "I was also thrilled that he was still alive.”
When Poppy Hillsborough arrived in San Francisco for her second day on the job, she wasn't thinking of falling in love. But then Ted Morgan (not their real names) opened the door to the building where Poppy was starting her job, and everything changed.
"This is the guy," Poppy remembered thinking. "I just knew it from the moment I met him.”
That he had HIV didn’t change the fact that Poppy had always wanted to have a child. It just meant that now, when she dreamed of babies, they had Ted’s pink cheeks and sandy blond hair. And it meant she didn’t know how she’d get pregnant.
ENTER DRS. MYRON “MIKE” COHEN AND PIETRO VERNAZZA. Infectious disease specialists. Colleagues. Scientific detectives.
"Pietro will tell you that he knew what the results of my study would be," Cohen, chief investigator of a study that spanned continents to figure out whether treating people with HIV could prevent the spread of the virus, told me. "But I didn't know. How is it that he could know the results of my study when I didn’t?”
MEET POM-POM MORGAN, POPPY AND TED'S MIRACLE BABY: TEN FINGERS, 10 TOES AND ZERO HIV. The method of her conception was unimaginable just a decade ago. Her parents had sex. Without a condom. And no one got HIV.
WELCOME TO THE NEW ERA OF HIV. Decades after HIV’s emergence as a scourge and an epidemic, we are in an age of long lives, seeming functional cures, and a real promise of an AIDS-free generation. But how did we get here? For every great advance, there are pioneers. The Hartmanns and the Morgans, Cohen and Vernazza are among them. POSITIVELY NEGATIVE tells their stories. Follow along with this short, 13,000-word novella-length nonfiction story, as the couples feel their way toward family and as researchers discover that HIV can be tamed—to the benefit of families and the world.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR POSITIVELY NEGATIVE:
“A book on HIV that’s so enthralling, you won’t be able to put it down until the final word.”
—Jennifer Steil, author, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky and the upcoming The Ambassador’s Wife
“Many rivers have been crossed since Randy Shilts threw down the gauntlet on HIV reporting with And The Band Played On. Positively Negative picks up that gauntlet and runs.”
—Kevin Smokler, author, Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Touched Since You Were In High School
“Positively Negative will touch readers and leave them thinking long after putting it down.”
—Pulitzer Prize winner Wendy Ruderman, author, Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love
65 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 2014
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Heather Boerner
3 books9 followersHeather Boerner is a longtime journalist whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, Al Jazeera America, KPBS, Better Homes and Gardens and BETABlog, among other publications. She is the recipient of a Dennis A. Hunt Grant for Health Care Journalism, for a series on undocumented immigrants and healthcare, and is the winner of an Apex Award of Excellence and an Award of Excellence in Health Care Journalism from the Association of Health Care Journalists. She specializes in storytelling that examines how people make the very difficult decisions required to care for themselves and their loved ones. When not working, she spends time breaking up fights between cantankerous cats Quinn and Figaro, walking the hills of San Francisco, and binge reading genre fiction. For more information, please visit www.heatherboerner.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 28, 2014
Sublimely reported, written with a ton of heart. I learned a bunch and enjoyed every minute of doing so. We need more like Heather Boerner, particularly reporting on health and science for those of us who were scared of the subjects in junior high and still are.
July 18, 2014
I am an unapologetic sucker for a (good) love story and a (believable) happy ending. Despite the hopeful title of this article, I admit that I wasn't expecting either. This is HIV, after all, but Boerner deftly distills (in clear, comprehensible language despite all the scientific terms) both the controversial issues of unprotected sex and HIV and the science that makes it possible for these couples to safely conceive. This work documenting the medical advancement and courageous trail-blazers is a thrilling page-turner, but the white-hot center of this meticulously researched work is the compelling story of the families and their unfolding struggles for a child of their own. That such a thing is safely possible boggles the mind and lifts the spirit.
July 18, 2014
This book makes the alphabet soup of AIDS research and treatment digestible through clear writing and thorough research. It makes the story of the people behind that research and treatment compelling by humanizing not only the couples struggling to conceive, but the scientists and health care professionals on both sides of the question of whether they should.
I'd love to read more about these real-life characters five or 10 years from now as the couples face the daunting task of parenthood made more complicated by chronic disease and the doctors and researchers continue the search for a cure in these new parents' and babies' lifetimes.
I'd love to read more about these real-life characters five or 10 years from now as the couples face the daunting task of parenthood made more complicated by chronic disease and the doctors and researchers continue the search for a cure in these new parents' and babies' lifetimes.
July 18, 2014
Positively Negative is a human story wrapped in science, made easy to read by a veteran health journalist. Imagine wanting a baby more than anything and having all of the equipment in good working order... but being held back by decades of research telling you that condomless sex is a death sentence. This is the story of how scientists began to realize that wasn't always true--and how two couples overcame HIV-discordant status, fear and social stigmas in order to have healthy, HIV-negative babies.
July 18, 2014
This book is fascinating, I wish it was longer. If you are familiar with HIV, or if you aren't (& would like to learn more), this is for you. Basically, everyone should read it. It goes by fast, & you'll learn a lot. It's a very cute love story & scientific journalism rolled into one. The subjects are very compelling & it's well written. Easy & fun to read without losing intellectual flair. I snacked this book down. (I eat books.)
July 18, 2014
I enjoyed reading this book and actually plan on reading it again. It captures the gradual evolution toward the era of pre-exposure prophylaxis we are currently in, but also vividly depicts the"human side" as well. The book delves into many different areas but finds a way to tie them all into the overarching theme. I applaud the author for giving voice to this important topic.
December 2, 2019
What would you do if you desperately wanted to have a baby, and your spouse had HIV?
In the mid-1990s, the introduction of highly-effective HIV drug regimens turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic condition. People with HIV and their life partners could begin to imagine creating families and living to see their children grow up. But it was not until 2014 that researchers and policy-makers approved a prophylactic regimen that effectively protects against HIV-transmission even without condom use. (It still is not officially condoned for family-building purposes, but some physicians are willing to prescribe it for that purpose.) For almost two decades, HIV-discordant couples faced a special kind of infertility: it was childlessness caused by the threat of illness, by fear, and by a traumatized, cautious public health and medical community that could not move beyond its initial message, that “only condoms prevent HIV transmission.” A new e-book, Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy, and Science’s Surprising Victory over HIV, takes us into the lives of two couples who lived this history.
Read the rest at Nursing Clio: http://nursingclio.org/2014/09/18/rev...
In the mid-1990s, the introduction of highly-effective HIV drug regimens turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic condition. People with HIV and their life partners could begin to imagine creating families and living to see their children grow up. But it was not until 2014 that researchers and policy-makers approved a prophylactic regimen that effectively protects against HIV-transmission even without condom use. (It still is not officially condoned for family-building purposes, but some physicians are willing to prescribe it for that purpose.) For almost two decades, HIV-discordant couples faced a special kind of infertility: it was childlessness caused by the threat of illness, by fear, and by a traumatized, cautious public health and medical community that could not move beyond its initial message, that “only condoms prevent HIV transmission.” A new e-book, Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy, and Science’s Surprising Victory over HIV, takes us into the lives of two couples who lived this history.
Read the rest at Nursing Clio: http://nursingclio.org/2014/09/18/rev...
August 5, 2014
In "Positively Negative," Heather Boerner introduces readers to couples in which one partner is HIV-positive and both long to have a baby. Can that happen without the other partner contracting HIV? If so, will the baby be healthy? Boerner expertly weaves in details regarding medical advances from the last decade or so, never losing sight of the larger narrative. This Kindle Single will be an especially interesting read for anyone who grew up (like Boerner and I) in the 1980s, when an AIDS diagnosis amounted to a death sentence. Thanks in large part to antiretroviral therapy, living with HIV means something radically different now. That shines through in this sensitively written, thoroughly researched piece.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews