Wilma received a late diagnosis: ‘Doctor did not think of HIV in married Friezin’

They are home hairdressers, library volunteers or that mother in the schoolyard. And they have HIV. Fortunately, that disease is no longer fatal, but the prejudices are still very much alive.

Wilma van der Heide (65) is married and has two sons. She is a volunteer with the HIV Association.

Living with HIV

“You don’t fit the bill,” the doctor said, apologizing for the late diagnosis. They examined me thoroughly for a year and a half. No doctor associated a white married woman from Friesland with HIV. Although with my hollow eyes and bone-thin body I looked exactly like an AIDS patient. I barely survived, but because of the virus I am blind in my right eye and I have a stoma.