A first person’s account of the early days of the AIDS Epidemic.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 30: Playwright Larry Kramer attends the 2016 #IdentityWeek Reception at Vineyard Theatre on September 30, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

In 1981, I began showing symptoms of what would become known as HIV/AIDS.  It started with painful swollen lymph nodes larger than golf balls in my armpits and groin.  Tests for mononucleosis and a biopsy for Hodgkin’s disease came back negative. Next came night sweats that soaked my sheets, exhaustion despite 12 hours of sleep, skin rashes, fungal and yeast infections in body creases, Harry Leukoplakia on my tongue, and reoccurring shingles.