As World Aids Day aims to increase awareness of the disease and how people can protect themselves against it, Health Reporter Emma Brady spoke to a Birmingham mother-of-two who has lived with HIV for 13 years...

When Tina Crossley* left school in the summer of 1991 the world was her oyster - she had plans to take a year out before going to university and was looking at a possible career in the police.

Then she met her first serious boyfriend, and her life seemed to be complete.

center>* What do you think? We want know - get in touch by email, messageboard or by emailing a letter to the editor *

But several months later Tina, who lives in Sheldon, was distraught to learn he had been diagnosed HIV positive.

Unfortunately her case is not unusual, and figures published last week by the Health Protection Agency revealed the region had the second highest rate of HIV outside London, with 483 new cases diagnosed in the West Midlands last year.

Tina said: "He was a haemophiliac and had been infected through contaminated blood products during his treatment, we had begun a sexual relationship but had taken precautions so we continued to be careful.

"He was my first proper boyfriend, he wasn't a one night stand and it wasn't a hasty decision to sleep together.

"I have to say I didn't think at that stage I would ever contract HIV myself, because at that time it was mainly portrayed as a 'gay' disease."

Shortly after the couple split, Tina discovered she was pregnant and was offered a variety of tests - including an HIV test. Although two tests came back negative, a third test produced a positive result in March 1992.

Tina, a 33-year-old financial administrator, explained how her world fell apart when her doctor gave the diagnosis.

"I was in a terrible state, all I could think about was ending my own life, what would I tell people, would I be around to see my baby grow up? All these questions were filling my head, I was 19 and my life appeared to be over," she said.

"At that time the best prognosis HIV sufferers could expect was eight to ten years. The future went from really bright to really dark, certainly I never thought I'd see 30." In January 1993, her son - now 12 - was born at Birmingham Women's Hospital and instead of putting him up for adoption as she had planned to, Tina continued to battle on.

With a new partner Tina opted to have a second child and quit her medication in 1995, then the following spring her youngest son - now aged nine - was born.

She said: "I realised I had wasted four years so I looked at starting a university course in social work, which I really enjoyed, but had to give up due to financial pressures.

"That's when I started looking for a regular job and I've been working in my current job since 2000.

"Both my boys are doing really well in school, my friends are all getting married and having hen nights next year so I've got too much to do so I can't become ill."

Every three months Tina visits the young person's HIV clinic at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, where her white blood cell count (CD4) is measured. Her count has fallen from the 1400s to between 100 and 200 since her diagnosis in 1992.

However Tina is shocked at the lack of sex education in schools, and the level of ignorance about how HIV is transmitted. She added: "People need to take their own sexual behaviour into account, you have no way of knowing if the person you're sleeping with is HIV positive or not unless they've been tested.

"There's not enough education around this subject in schools, it's not part of the national curriculum and teachers appeared to be more concerned with preventing teenage pregnancies than raising awareness about HIV and STIs. The biggest increase in transmission has been through heterosexual sex, yet the perception is this is a problem in the gay community, so more needs to be done to bring down the number of new cases."

While Tina has endured a rollercoaster of emotions since her diagnosis 13 years ago, she is determined to maintain a positive mental attitude.

"It's a case of mind over matter - it can't affect you if you don't let it. I'm not prepared to be a victim and let HIV take over my life."

* Not her real name