D-REK's Angels and Warriors

02/09/2026

Advocacy at sea isn’t a slogan to me. It’s a setting. A damn powerful one.

When I’m on a ship, the noise of land life shuts up. No clinics. No waiting rooms. No sterile posters telling half the truth about HIV. Just people. Sunburned. Relaxed. Open. And that’s when the real conversations happen.

I don’t stand on a soapbox. I’m at the pool. In a hot tub. At dinner with strangers who feel like friends by dessert. Someone asks where I’m from. What I do. Why I travel so much. And eventually the question comes that always comes.
“So what’s your story?”

That’s advocacy at sea.

I tell them I was infected as an infant from a blood transfusion. I tell them I didn’t find out until I was 16 and already had AIDS. I tell them I’m still here. Still standing. Still undetectable. And I watch their faces change in real time. Confusion. Curiosity. Respect. Sometimes guilt. Sometimes tears.

On land, people are armored. At sea, the armor cracks.

People ask questions they’ve been afraid to ask for years. Can you hug someone with HIV. Can you kiss them. Can you live a long life. Can you fall in love. And I answer them honestly. No pamphlet. No filter. Just truth from someone who’s lived it longer than most doctors have practiced.

I advocate because the ocean creates neutrality. No politics. No labels. No sides. Just humanity floating together, realizing how small we all are and how stupid stigma looks from the middle of the water.

I don’t travel to escape my life.
I travel to put my life where it can do the most good.

Advocacy at sea is me reminding people that HIV didn’t kill me. Silence almost did. And if a casual conversation on a cruise deck saves even one person from ignorance or fear, then every mile I sail is worth it.

That’s what I do out there.
That’s who I am.

Join Angels & Warriors to fight HIV stigma, support children with congenital heart disease, and get involved in community initiatives. Make a difference today.

02/05/2026

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP89ReHut/

time to drop truth bombs

02/04/2026

What’s one thing you wish your doctor understood about your daily life?

02/01/2026

What has kept you alive that no doctor ever prescribed

01/30/2026

What’s the most ignorant thing someone has said to you about HIV

01/29/2026

Small update. Big shift.

Kim and I just unlocked tap to pay on our phones for Angels and Warriors. That means you can now donate or purchase any product from AngelsandWarriors.org instantly, right there in the moment.

No links to save.
No “I’ll do it later.”
No friction.
If a conversation gets real and someone wants to support the work, it can happen immediately. One tap. That’s it.

This keeps Angels and Warriors human and intentional. Only Kim and I have access. No middlemen. No passing phones around. Just direct support for advocacy, education, and visibility when it actually matters.
From conferences to cruise ships to unexpected conversations with strangers who suddenly feel seen, Angels and Warriors now moves with us.

This is what modern advocacy looks like.
Quiet. Mobile. Personal.

Join Angels & Warriors to fight HIV stigma, support children with congenital heart disease, and get involved in community initiatives. Make a difference today.

01/26/2026

When I need to clear my mind, find national media, find local business support and just breath. AngelsandWarriors.org for booking info and more.

P.S. Kim and I are available for conferences,magazine articles, and wherever else we are called.

01/17/2026

Lost in the Echo Chamber
A Heterosexual with HIV in 2026

In 2026, information is everywhere and understanding is still rare.
I exist in a space nobody planned for. Too straight for the HIV conversations that assume my identity. Too HIV positive for rooms that swear this only happens to other people. I walk through awareness campaigns that speak loudly yet never say my name. I scroll through feeds full of representation and somehow remain invisible.

The echo chamber is loud. It repeats the same narratives until they harden into rules. Who HIV belongs to. How it’s supposed to look. Who gets sympathy and who gets suspicion. When I speak, the sound doesn’t bounce back. It just disappears.
Doctors still pause. People still ask how. Some still assume why.

There is a special kind of isolation that comes from being constantly corrected about your own life. From being treated like an exception instead of a reality. From watching prevention messages skip over people like me while stigma quietly tightens its grip.

I did not slip through the cracks. The cracks were designed this way.
Being heterosexual with HIV means living between conversations. Advocating without a script. Educating people who think they already know. Carrying the weight of survival while being told your story is statistically inconvenient.
But here’s the part the echo chamber can’t erase.

I am not confused. I am not ashamed. I am not outdated. And I am not alone, even when it feels that way.
If 2026 is supposed to be the future, then the future needs to widen its lens. HIV does not care about orientation. Trauma does not ask permission. Survival does not fit neatly into categories.

I’m still here. Still speaking. Still refusing to disappear into silence.
And eventually, the echo chamber will crack. Because truth, when repeated with enough force, becomes impossible to ignore.

Join Angels & Warriors to fight HIV stigma, support children with congenital heart disease, and get involved in community initiatives. Make a difference today.

01/08/2026

AngelsandWarriors.org for booking info go to AngelsandWarriors.org

01/07/2026

Conversation Starter

Let’s talk about something people avoid saying out loud. 🔥
Illness changes relationships. Period. Not just romantic ones. Friends. Family. Coworkers. Even the way strangers look at you. 👀

So here’s the real question 👇
Who surprised you the most after your diagnosis or health journey and why?
Who stepped up when you didn’t expect it 🤍
Who disappeared when you thought they never would 🚪
Who stayed but changed 🧩
Or who showed you exactly who they really were 🎭
No names required. No dragging. Just truth.
Because grief doesn’t always come from the illness itself. Sometimes it comes from what falls away. 🍂
Share if you’re ready.
Read quietly if you’re not.
Either way, you’re not alone here.

01/05/2026

One thing that will always get under my skin is a medical professional using the wrong terms and leaving a patient confused, scared, or second guessing their own body. Words matter. In medicine they can either bring clarity or cause chaos. I have zero tolerance for chaos when someone’s health is on the line.
That is exactly why I do what I do. I am here to keep the train on the tracks when the language goes sideways. When a label is misused. When an explanation is lazy. When someone walks away with more questions than answers because a provider chose convenience over precision.
Medicine does not stand still. New terms, classifications, and definitions are introduced every single year. Guidelines change. Language evolves. And if you are not keeping up, you are not serving your patients the way they deserve to be served.
I study. Constantly. I read the updates. I cross check sources. I ask the uncomfortable questions. I do not repeat outdated language just because it is familiar. I study and I study well because people deserve information that is accurate, current, and grounded in truth not fear.
Confusion in healthcare is not harmless. It costs trust. It costs adherence. Sometimes it costs lives. If I can step in and translate, correct, or steady someone after a bad explanation, then that matters.
Clarity is not optional. It is part of care.

Join Angels & Warriors to fight HIV stigma, support children with congenital heart disease, and get involved in community initiatives. Make a difference today.