HIV-POSITIVE TEEN COPES WITH DISEASE

Paul Conley is 14 years old. He likes to put together car models and listen to country music. His favorite school subject is working with and playing on computers. He follows football and baseball closely, though he can't play. The reason is that Paul was diagnosed as being HIV positive at age 10. Blood given to him during a transfusion to treat his hemophilia contained the virus.

"I just couldn't believe it. It was like a nightmare. I'm just trying to live with it," Paul said.

Paul is not alone.

Of 20,000 people with hemophilia in the country, an estimated 10,000 have the HIV virus, according to the National AIDS Commission.

Paul recently told Children's Express that his family has been very supportive throughout this ordeal, even though none of them has the virus.

His teachers and friends have been supportive, too.

While most kids his age worry about college and careers, Paul paces himself.

"I feel that I should just go one day at a time."

With so much on his mind, Paul needs inspiration to get him through the hard times.

He looks up to Ryan White _ the Indiana teen-ager who died of AIDS in 1990. Although he never got to meet him, he said he would have liked to. He thinks about what Ryan would do in a specific situation and tries to model Ryan's actions.

Being HIV positive has changed Paul's life forever. He is learning to deal with his condition.

For Paul, having the condition is not going to change, but he wishes he could change Americans' ignorance about the disease. He believes many people don't realize that being HIV positive doesn't change who a person is, and he wants to help them understand that.

"I'd just tell the people if they want to know anything (to) find out about it before they jump to conclusions," Paul explained. "HIV people are normal. . . . I just want to teach (people) what's right."

He says he feels sorry for people who don't have the real facts about AIDS.

Having the HIV virus has forced Paul to ask himself many difficult questions. What's in store for his future? When will he contract AIDS? One question, however, stands out from the rest: "Why me?"

"I've thought about that, about why. I never did come up with an answer."