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AIDS Victim Infected by Dad Vows to Fight On

By Drew Nelles,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 7, 2009 5:40 PM CDT
AIDS Victim Infected by Dad Vows to Fight On
Brryan Jackson is seen at his home Thursday, June 4, 2009, in St. Charles, Mo.   (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Brryan Jackson wasn’t supposed to live. Injected with HIV-positive blood by his father at 11 months of age, Jackson has grown into a compassionate teenage advocate for AIDS sufferers. Graduating from high school near St. Louis yesterday, he vowed to go into politics. More remarkably, he has forgiven his father. "God wants us to forgive people," Jackson, 18, tells the AP.

Shunned by parents of classmates and asked to avoid water fountains, Jackson has carved out his own life, cheerleading at school, playing guitar, and even flirting with girls.
He says he plans “to break the barriers between what people think this virus is, and what it really is." But he has never contacted his father, who remains in prison for infecting the boy he thought he couldn't afford to keep.
(More HIV stories.)

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