Cascade AIDS Project
Back in 2009, Jessica G. was experiencing flu-like symptoms. No matter what she did, she never felt any better, so she went to the hospital. She thought she would be in and out. Instead, her life changed forever during a nine-day stay at the hospital. The medical staff couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They ran all sorts of tests and even decided to remove her gallbladder. They eventually diagnosed her with mononucleosis and released her from the hospital. It wasn’t until weeks later that her test results returned and revealed what was wrong.
She was HIV-positive.
“It was a huge shock,” Jessica says. “I didn’t think I was a high-risk person, and I didn’t know anyone who had HIV. It was very scary, and I didn’t know where to turn. Nobody thinks it’s going to happen to them.”
In the weeks and months that followed, Jessica missed a lot of work due to being sick. Because of missed workdays, she needed help with rent money because her living situation had changed; she barely had enough money to put gas in her car. The financial toll weighed on top of the extreme stress and devastation Jessica was feeling about her diagnosis. Thankfully, there was a place that she, along with thousands of others, could turn to for help: The Cascade AIDS Project (CAP).