My former girlfriend is a registered nurse and is an HIV caseload worker. She gets all the bad asses, the ones who use -- or used -- IV drugs and turn tricks. While you don't want the virus, you're far worse off with Hep C according to her. As for HIV, she says if patients take their medication faithfully and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you wouldn't know they have it. So the fact that Magic looks so healthy and is able to be as active as he is really isn't surprising.
Does Baseball Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar have HIV? He says not, but again because of today's medications we may never know. He may well be HIV free. On the other hand, he may have taught Toronto mayor Rob Ford the art of denial. ("I have more than enough to eat at home.")
In 2007, linebacker Trevis Smith of the CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders was convicted of aggravated sexual assault for having sex with a couple of women who weren't told he had HIV. Smith spent two years in a Canadian prison before being deported to the U.S. I'm not sure of his current whereabouts.
In 1996, former NHL player Bill Goldsworthy died from complications from AIDS, which he was first diagnosed with two years earlier. He was only 52. His most notable years were with the Minnesota North Stars, although he was also a member of Team Canada in the epic eight game series with the Soviet Union in 1972.
Indy car and Nascar driver Tim Richmond was only 34 when he died in 1989.
Medical science has come a long ways in 20+ years, and it would appear that Magic was one of the first beneficiaries. Keep in mind, there were a lot of players in the NBA who objected to his comeback after he was diagnosed for fear of contracting the disease.
