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Anthony Bird: Dancing, Diagnosis, Defiance
Description
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A graphic designer who went from a back clinic to an AIDS diagnosis in 1995, was hospitalised with PCP at seven and a half stone, and watched 30,000 balloons released at Pride - each one representing someone who died - thinking: next year one of those is going to be me.
Summary
Tony Bird moved to London in 1990 and worked as a graphic designer in Soho. By autumn 1995, he had a cough his GP dismissed as nothing. He'd lost a huge amount of weight. At a back clinic, a doctor listened to his symptoms and said: I'm not the person to do this, but I think maybe you should have an HIV test. Three days later, Tony couldn't put his boots on. A gay GP neighbour called Julian came over, listened to his chest, and called an ambulance immediately. Princess Diana was on the television in the ambulance - the Panorama interview, three of us in this marriage. By admission, he was seven and a half stone. He was 28.
The doctors said: we think you've got PCP. Are you aware of the implications of that? Tony had seen And the Band Played On. He knew exactly what PCP was. He felt relief - finally someone was taking it seriously. A month in hospital, including intensive care, and then home to Brixton Hill by Christmas. But he had no confidence in the medication. The drugs targeted HIV at only one point in its reproduction cycle, and resistance came quickly. At Pride that year, they released 30,000 balloons, each representing someone who had died. Tony thought: next year one of those is going to be me.
Combination therapy arrived, and with it, a future he hadn't planned for. Today, Tony is happier than at any point in his life. He takes one pill a day, sees his consultant twice a year, and dances with a community that makes newcomers feel welcome. He is a gay man in his late fifties for whom HIV has very little daily effect - and that, after 1995, is its own kind of miracle.
Key Moments
- [00:01] 30,000 balloons - each one representing someone who died of AIDS, released at Pride, and the thought: next year one is going to be me
- [03:11] The cough that wouldn't go - a GP who dismissed it, a back clinic that suggested an HIV test, and the walk from Soho to Oxford Circus that required sitting down on the pavement
- [04:34] Julian from next door - the gay GP neighbour who listened to Tony's chest and called an ambulance immediately
- [04:54] 20 November 1995 - admitted to hospital at seven and a half stone, down from ten, with Princess Diana on the ambulance TV
- [06:29] PCP and relief - told he had an AIDS-defining illness, and the strange comfort of finally knowing why
- [09:07] No confidence in the drugs - one class of medication, rapid resistance, and the certainty that treatment wouldn't keep him alive
- [09:37] "I'm not going to live until I'm 30" - one bleak night in hospital, telling his partner
- [38:47] 2025 - one pill a day, consultant twice a year, and very little daily effect. Happier now than at any point in his life
Dedication
Tony remembers those represented by the 30,000 balloons released at Pride - each one a person who died of AIDS.
About Anthony Bird
Anthony Bird is a graphic designer who was diagnosed with an AIDS-defining illness in November 1995 at the age of 28. He was hospitalised with PCP at seven and a half stone. He lives in London and describes himself as happier now than at any point in his life.