A woman has told how she contacted HIV after sleeping with her husband for the first time on their wedding night.
Incredibly, the woman carried the virus for eight years without knowing.
She even gave birth to the couple’s child while being infected but her husband continued to stay quiet.
The unidentified mum told Mamamia of the nightmare moment she realised her husband had been playing ‘Russian roulette’ with her and their baby.
The woman, who is believed to be Australian, was a single mother in her 30s when she met and fell in love with her husband.
They soon married and held-off from having sex until the night of their wedding.
However, after becoming pregnant she said the relationship fell apart as the husband became controlling and violent.
© Evoke.ie Wedding
But it wasn’t until eight years after they split that the woman suspected something was seriously wrong.
She began losing weight, her hair started falling out and her nails became infected.
‘I didn’t realise just how sick I was. I’d been living with HIV for nine years,’ she told Mamamia.
Miraculously her young child had not contracted the virus, even though she had breastfed him as an infant.
When she confronted her ex-partner about his reckless behaviour he simply hung up the phone and the pair have not spoken since.
‘Furious, I said, ”Do you realise what you’ve done? You played Russian Roulette. You put me at risk and our child. You fired two bullets, you got one hit,” she told Mamamia.
Five years after being told she has HIV the woman says she is determined to live life as normally as possible.
Despite struggling with her health she says she is determined to see her grandchildren grow up.
She said: ‘No one knows how long they’re going to live for. I live each day with purpose. I’m grateful for every day I’m well and with my children.’
