Cath's alive and campaigning

Cath with her pride and joy, Lara. "She keeps me fit!"

Blackburn's Cath Slater was 19 when she was given the worst news imaginable. She was HIV positive.

It was tantamount to being handed a death sentence: she was told to go and enjoy what little time she had left and "prepare for the inevitable".

That was 1985 yet she is very much alive and as well as she has ever been.

Cath is one of the lucky ones. But don't be fooled by her breezy smile: life in the shadow of the virus has been far from a bed of roses.

The 80s were far from enlightened times concerning HIV. "It was a very scary time," said Cath who was brought up in Preston. "Little was known about the virus and how you caught it. Scaremongering was rife and people were understandably terrified of catching it."

There was even talk of rounding up carriers and sending them to a remote island to die. "My family were terrified I would be taken away. It was a traumatic enough time for them."

It is something Cath will never forgive. "I couldn't believe the complete lack of compassion some people had for other human beings."

Solace

While there was a lot of prejudice at the time, Cath says she was treated more sympathetically because of the way she contracted HIV but points out that it shouldn't matter how you caught it.

We'd joke about which one of us would be next. Cath Slater

Like her mother and sister, Cath was born with von Willebrands disease, a blood disorder which affects clotting. She contracted HIV in 1982 from a blood transfusion before there were any checks in place for the virus. The donor was from Blackburn and he died in 1989.

Cath's strain of von Willebrands is more problematic than both her mother and sister's disorder and she has needed more transfusions. It was during one such transfusion that she was unwittingly contaminated.

In the early days she took some solace in directing her anger at the consultant for taking away her hopes, her dreams and her future when he told her she had just 18 months to live. "Looking back, it must have been a dreadful job to have to do. Now there's no anger I just feel sorry for him."

Cath was training to be a nurse when she was diagnosed. After qualifying as a RGN, she went on to qualify as a psychiatric nurse. There were no physical symptoms of the disease until December 1989. She was diagnosed with Aids and almost died from Aids-related pneumonia.They feared she wouldn't live past Christmas but a new drug AZT helped her pull through. AZT got her over pneumonia but it wasn't a miracle cure for the virus. The antibodies replicate and can mutates so it can become resistant to AZT after a few weeks.

Black humour

Cath bounced back and was working as a psychiatric nurse until at 26 she was just too ill to carry on working and was medically retired. She bought a camper van and went travelling around Europe to see as much of the world as she could while she still could.

She had already been to countless funerals of friends in her support group but the following year 1993 was a horrific year. "I went to so many funerals that year."

Saying goodbye to friends was hard enough but it was a stark reminder of their own mortality. They coped with black humour. "We'd joke about which one of us would be next.

"I had a friend who couldn't eat for months and was in such pain but he couldn't half make us all laugh."

She recalls some of the treatments and therapies they tried - from the bizarre to the ridiculous - "to eke out a few more months".

Good news was on the horizon for carriers, though. The treatment of HIV was revolutionised in 1994 with the introduction of HAART which Cath credits as saving her life.

Cath at 21 when she qualified as a RGN

It is a combination of at least three different antiretroviral drugs which can slow down or even reverse HIV. Cath could now manage the virus albeit with a cocktail of nine tablets a day.

There was also a breakthrough in treatment for von Willebrands that year. Dried treatments were developed so she could administer them herself at home in 20 minutes rather than spend hours hanging around hospitals three times a week. It provided her with far more freedom and independence.

Cath, who was brought up in Preston, recalls: "Going on a family holiday had been a nightmare. My parents had to plan it with meticulous detail and make sure there was a hospital nearby."

Life choices

Determined to get back into work she embarked on a degree in Women's Studies. In 1997 she graduated with first class honours and was set to do a doctorate.

She was to face more obstacles, though. Cath had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C back in 1994 from the same transfusion with the HIV virus. She had three internal bleeds in the year after her graduation caused by liver disease and was unable to continue her studies.

She did train to be a reflexologist after a partial recovery from the bleeds but her successive illnesses took their toll on her. She became very depressed. Cath sought therapy which helped her come to terms with the emotional effects of her illnesses and the life choices she made as a result.

She decided at 20 she wouldn't have children because there were too many complications. A born nurturer, she admits that it has been difficult at times. Now 44, she says: "I'm proud I stuck by my decision but you can't help but wonder what could have been. I could have had a career and been a mother but it wasn't meant to be."

New relationships can be trying, too. Cath's policy is the sooner the better when it comes to explaining to new partners she is HIV positive. "I tell people straight away and give them the chance to walk away; some have and I understand completely."

Maybe this was my fate - this is the contribution I was destined to make. Cath Slater on her campaign work

It is the same with friends who have disappeared off the radar. One former friend cut contact with her and later told her mum when she bumped into her she "couldn't cope with watching Cath die".

She feels no bitterness for the cross she has had to bear: she has a sweetness which belies her steely fighting spirit. Through all her traumas she has campaigned endlessly to raise awareness of HIV and educate people in preventing HIV. She does talks on the disease for the nursing training program and charity groups. "Maybe this was my fate - this is the contribution I was destined to make."

Hot-shot

Today, the viral load is the lowest it has ever been in Cath's body and is below the rate of detection. She has sinusitis - the result of nose bleeds and treatments her blood disorder - and cirrhosis caused by Hepatitis C "but I'm still alive!" she points out triumphantly as she breaks into a smile that takes over her entire face.

In between campaigning, Cath is a hot-shot on the pool table. The former Preston Ladies Champion plays on the Ladies International Pool tour and is also a qualified pool referee. Her other passion is her boxer dog, Lara.

Cath counts her blessings rather than dwelling on her past demons. "I'm very lucky. I have a fantastic family, lovely friends and Lara!"

She is excited about the future she once feared she would never have. "There was a time when I was more prepared for death than I was for life. It took a lot of therapy and medication to turn it around but I'm still here and the future's looking brighter than it ever has."

• Of the 1250 haemophiliacs who contracted the virus through blood transfusions pre HIV testing, only a quarter have lived to tell the tale. For the ones who managed to survive until HAART was introduced, they can now lead a full life says Allan Clinch who is the Senior Sexual Health Education Officer at the Jarman Centre in Blackburn.

He said:"People living with HIV can now have a long and fulfilling life thanks to advancements in medication which can suppress the virus."

The Jarman Centre is a support service for people with HIV offering both healthy lifestyle advice and emotional support for people living with HIV.

Allan explained: "We help people understand the condition so they can keep themselves as healthy and well as possible. Often the mental aspects are the hardest to deal with; such as how it affects relationships, your emotions and your well being."