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In 1993, Dolly Sanchez found out she was pregnant. She was happy until the doctor solemnly told her that she was HIV-positive.

Everything changed that day. Dolly was no longer able to pursue a career in nursing, and her husband, unable to deal with the thought that she was destined to get AIDS, eventually ended the marriage.

Ironically, it was Dolly's desire to help people suffering from AIDS that, in a bizarre and tragic turn of events, led to her contracting HIV. In the late 1980s Dolly spent most of her time at the San Antonio AIDS Foundation working with AIDS patients. And trying to make the dying more comfortable. In her spare time, she picked up individuals in the last stage of the disease and transported them to a safe house where they could spend their final hours with caring people. "One day they were there; the next day they were gone," Dolly remembers.

Dolly never thought of this work as being dangerous, but during one of her volunteer runs in 1989, a crazed man in the final stages of AIDS attacked her. In a frenzied rage, the dying man injected contaminated blood into her arm. Dolly struggled to free herself as the needle tore into her flesh.

	"I'm the one who can say, 'I know how you feel.' God has given me an opportunity to help those with floundering faith." —Dolly Sanchez

I'm dead! she thought, barely breathing, as a coworker wrestled her away from the attacker, then took her to the clinic for a blood test. When nothing positive showed up, she and her husband breathed a sigh of relief, though they both knew things could change. That bittersweet day in 1993, they did.

For years, Dolly didn't tell many people her story. She didn't think anyone would believe her. Most people assumed she contracted HIV sexually or through drugs. But she had done nothing wrong. In fact, she had been trying to do good when suddenly her life was thrown into chaos. She lost her husband and, for a while, her hope.

In a way, the virus did kill her, because she essentially died to her old, stable life. She had to start over. But God helped her forgive-both her ex-husband and the dying man who stabbed her.

"Contracting HIV was a wakeup call," she now says. "I decided to live every day to the fullest."

Today Dolly has enjoyed nearly 12 years without the virus escalating. She attributes this to the goodness of God and to a team of doctors who made her part of an experimental program at the Houston Medical Center. There Sanchez and her unborn son (whom she refused to abort) became "guinea pigs" for two years. She took medicines and more medicines. When baby Scott was born, he was given the then-experimental drug AZT. Sixteen months later, he was pronounced HIV-free.

Dolly still takes a daily regimen of medicines, some of which have changed over the years. In the midst of it all, the infection in her blood has responded well and she has not been sick once in 11 years.

When she looks back at the past decade, Dolly often quotes Romans 8:28: "God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose" (NLT). She has remarried and has a second child, now 4, also born without the virus. At a time when she worried about medical insurance, the Pediatrics Department at the University of Texas Health Science Center offered her a full-time position as part of the Supportive Counseling team, where she is the peer advocate for infected mothers.

"I'm the one who can say, 'I know how you feel,'" Dolly explains. "I believe that God has really blessed me-and given me an opportunity to help those with floundering faith."

She also believes that holistic health is important to fighting the progression of the disease.

She prays, reads the Bible, and worships at her local church to nourish her spirit. But she also exercises, watches her diet, and tries to keep a positive and upbeat mental outlook.

In 2003, even though the effects of her new medication had left her bloated, she decided to run the San Antonio Marathon. For four months, Dolly trained in order to raise money for Jennifer's Camp, a facility for children living with HIV/AIDS. As she ran, she listened to Christian music from her portable CD player.

"The hours went by like minutes, as the lyrics nourished my spirit," she says.

Dolly, who is now 40, finished the marathon in 5 hours and 31 minutes. As she crossed the finish line, she remembered Paul's words about "finishing the course" that Christ had given him.

"I've been given a race to run among those infected with HIV," she says. "If, in Jesus' name, I can encourage those infected, I will complete the only real race that matters."

In that spirit she embraces her ministry to those infected with HIV/AIDS-something that she saw God calling her to do even before she was infected. She's able to testify that God's love will help others through their struggles, too. Having the disease, she says, "does not mean that life is over."

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, there are up to 950,000 U.S. residents living with HIV. Approximately 40,000 new infections occur each year, and more than 16,000 people died from AIDS in 2002. Amid these sobering statistics, Dolly wants to shine as a beacon of hope.

"In society's eyes, I am HIV positive, so I have little to hope for," she says. "But I know that God sees me differently, and He provides and meets my needs. Because I have Jesus in my life, I feel happy and alive."

Linda Owen is a writer in San Antonio, Texas.

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