World’s Second HIV Cured Patient Reveals His Identity

Earlier last year on March 4, a team of doctors from the UK announced that a patient named ‘London Patient’ had become the second in the world to get cured of HIV Aids. A year later, London Patient has finally come out with his identity as he’s willing to discuss his 15 year-long battle against aids.

“This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position. I want to be an ambassador of hope,” said 40-year old Adam Castillejo who now lives a healthy, disease-free life.

So what happened with Adam – who likes to refer himself as London Patient.

After being diagnosed with HIV at the age of 23 in 2003, Adam adopted an extremely healthy lifestyle that included a healthy diet, exercises, and medication to help him sustain against the deadly disease in his immune system.

However, his world came crashing down a few years later when he got to know that he also lymphoma, a type of cancer. Adam lost hope and went as far as wanting to end his life with the help of Dignitas, the Swiss company that helps terminally ill people take their own lives.

“I felt powerless. I needed control, to end my life on my own terms,” says Adam.

Things, however, took a surprising turn for Adam who was told that there’s a potential cure for cancer – a bone marrow transplant – which might be fruitful for his aids or prove to be extremely deadly due to the risks involved on the back of his HIV infected low immunity.

“The donor carried a mutation that impeded the ability of H.I.V. to enter cells, so the transplant essentially replaced Mr. Castillejo’s immune system with one resistant to the virus,” reported New York Times regarding the transplant that rid London Patient of both his fatal illnesses.

“We think this is a cure now because it’s been another year and we’ve done a few more tests,” says Adam’s virologist, Dr. Ravindra Gupta, one of the many doctors who had taken up London Patient’s case.