His name was Alex. He was only 27. He was frail, and thin. He was dying. When he first showed up at a local Brazilian clinic because of his symptoms, he was as near death as one could get. When his test results came back, he had HIV. In his first viral load test, he only had two CD4 cells left in his entire body. He was placed on an extensive antiretroviral cocktail immediately to fight the HIV from completing taking control of his immune system. His doctor joked with him, saying Alex had one CD4 cell in his head and one in his foot. He laughed about it, but knew this was no laughing matter.

He was dying. But he was also smiling, attending college and living his life. Alex represented the face of AIDS in a profound way. HBO’s documentary series called “Pandemic: Facing AIDS” highlighted Alex as one of five stories told from around the world on how HIV and AIDS are impacting the lives of real people.

I sat motionless as I watched the documentary which took you through a day-in-the-life type of ride where the cameras and microphones followed Alex around. To be so ill, he was quite busy. His mother asked him why he chose to attend college while sick and encouraged him take a six month break since school could weaken him. “No,” he said. “I want to go to school, I want to work, I want go out with friends on the weekends and church on Sundays. I don’t want to give HIV a chance to put me in bed,” he said. Throughout the piece, young Alex lived the way he spoke—with full purpose and life and a determination to fight. He was mostly always smiling.

One of the greatest things I loved about the piece, was the support of his family. His mother would cook special meals for him. She would concoct special immune system boosting drinks to give her son energy and stamina. She loved him unconditionally. He didn’t want his father to know of his HIV status, but when he told him, his father supported him with love and acceptance. His brother spoke of how he would defend Alex when people would comment, or stare. Alex had a very small family, who had big hearts of gold. His family is a definite key to his healing and strength.

The documentary also highlighted the plight of the Brazilian government in their fight against HIV/AIDS. The Brazilian government has made it clear that it will provide free, low cost antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS treatment. Alex has a chance to have a prolonged life because of it. He is just one of five impacting stories.

Others include an HIV–positive Russian couple who used IV drugs; a prostitute in Thailand who goes back home seeking acceptance and love and death with dignity; in India, a truck driver and his wife are both HIV positive and try to prevent their baby from getting it; and children in Uganda are orphaned as their parents die of AIDS. Seeing these stories can benefit a person who has HIV/AIDS or a person who wants to understand more about what people can experience on a daily basis here and abroad.

If you have access to HBO or know someone that does, I highly recommend watching the HBO documentary special called Pandemic: Facing AIDS. Produced by multi-talented Rory Kennedy, it is by far one of the most impacting documentaries I’ve seen about HIV/AIDS so far. The stories can make you smile, laugh and cry in a short span of 30 minutes.