November 7, 1991

How many of you know what that date is or know exactly where you were when you heard?

15 years ago today, Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the game of basketball because he had contracted the AIDS virus, HIV. Yeah we know he contracted it because of unprotected sex, but that aside, he was the first icon of our generation to announce such a thing.

I was 13 years old and I was getting ready to go to a junior high dance. Right before my mom drove me up to the school, Magic Johnson held his press conference and we sat in my parents' bedroom staring stunned at the TV screen.

I had grown up knowing the story of Ryan White, the young boy with hemophilia who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. Ryan had died a year and a half before Magic Johnson's announcement and two years to the day before Arthur Ashe announced that he, too, had AIDS, contracted through a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Before them, Rock Hudson was the only celebrity or icon who had AIDS that we knew about. All three of these resulted in fatalities. It's a crazy disease that has no cure, though Magic Johnson has managed to live 15 years on a cocktail of drugs.

My parents can tell you where they were when the bombs dropped during WWII or where they were when they heard about JFK's assassination or where they were when President Nixon announced his resignation. My mother specifically can tell you where she was when she heard Elvis died.

I, on the other hand, can tell you exactly where I was when Magic Johnson told the world he had HIV.

No matter the way it's contracted, it's still a disease that has prevention and no cure. Don't let awareness sleep folks. That just makes the disease grow.