Janetlynn Remy DeCastro was diagnosed with HIV 32 years ago. In the midst of the HIV crisis in New York City, DeCastro and her second husband were both diagnosed – her with HIV, her husband with AIDS.

"Don't take it for granted that ‘it won’t happen to me,’ because it can happen to me. It happened to me! I did not think that I would've been infected by it," she said.

Her husband died shortly after his diagnosis. Programs to support those living with HIV were few and far between at that time.

"They didn't want to deal with us. People were afraid of us, persons that were HIV positive. They didn't have peer support; they didn't have any type of support," she said.

That's why she became a peer advocate with Hudson Valley Community Services (HVCS), an agency that began in 1983 in response to the burgeoning AIDS crisis.

"Back in the '80s, ARCS, which is HVCS now, was the only agency that catered to people with HIV, especially women, with the exception of GMHC," she said. "I remember telling my mom ‘I think I'm going to move up to the Hudson Valley because there's support there.’ "

And she did exactly that. With her two children, she now lives in Kingston and maintains strong connections with her clients.

"I wanted to give people hope. I still wanna give my clients hope to know if I can live 33 years plus, and two children after, they can, too," she said.

DeCastro took Spectrum News to Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church in Kingston, a place she said became a sanctuary for her and her kids as she sought to make the city her home. She reflected on how she felt after learning of her diagnosis.

"There was no chemo, there was no therapy, there was nothing. You were going to die. That was the outcome back then," she said. "I felt lost, I was angry, I was hurt. I talk about it now and I'm holding back tears, but I remember saying to myself, ‘this is not fair.’ "

She went 11 years without medication, a decision she quickly decided against after becoming pregnant with her son, Sean. Then, she took three pills each day. Now, with advancements in medicine and technology, DeCastro takes one pill a day and is undetectable, which means the virus levels in her body are so low, she is unable to transmit the virus to anyone else.

At the church, she remembers the comfort it provided her.

"It was a safe place, although no one knew I was diagnosed and so forth ,but it was a safe place. Once I became a peer, it made me feel good that I could come back to my home church – where I started off, I didn't have anything, I came to eat, meet couple of people that were there – that I was able to give back to some of them in the community," she said.

She says it's important that she remains visible and that she shares her story. That way, others with a similar lived experience can find encouragement.

"Versus the ‘80s, where almost everyone was discriminatory against us, it's very much less today. It’s easier for them to come out to say ‘I'm HIV positive,’ " she said. "Whether it's in family, relationships, friendships, it's OK. And if they accept, they do. If they don't keep it moving, you'll find somebody else who will. I've been married five times, so I know it’s OK.”