A Sunflower County native has released an inspirational book about her journey since being diagnosed HIV positive, and she is hoping her story will help end the stigma attached to living with the illness.
Joanne Saulsberry, a Moorhead native, has published Victory to Victory There is Healing in the Release: From Diagnosis to Mission.
The book details her life from her childhood in Moorhead until the present day.
Saulsberry said she had a tough childhood and always felt rejected by her mother, but she has since made peace with that situation.
“She couldn’t give me what she didn’t know,” Saulsberry said.
Saulsberry said that her teen years were promiscuous, and she lived through multiple abusive relationships throughout adulthood.
She began dating a minister, she said, who was abusing drugs, and she did not know it at first. When she got out of the relationship after five years, she met her current husband.
Three years later, she was diagnosed with HIV, and she was faced with having to tell her husband.
“My husband is my Superman,” she said. “He didn’t leave me. He’s been with me every step of the way.”
Saulsberry said she had finally found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and she didn’t know how he would react, plus she had to tell her children.
“My first thoughts were I was terrified,” she said. “I was distraught. It was very upsetting.”
Saulsberry said she has felt nothing but unconditional love from her family since the 2011 diagnosis, and her prognosis is better with medicine.
“I’m doing great with that,” she said, noting her tests show the infection is “undetectable” now. “That was truly an act of God.”
Saulsberry is now active in her community in Memphis and is active in her church. She is hoping that others who are struggling with HIV and AIDS will find comfort and inspiration from her book.
