RATHER THAN SUFFER IN SILENCE, ROCK HILL MAN OFFERS WARNING ABOUT DRUG USE,
UNPROTECTED SEX

Living with HIV/AIDS can be a lonely existence. The disease still carries
an unmistakable stigma, say those infected with the illness and those who
care for them.

Thus it would have been a lot easier for Rock Hill's Gregory Doster to
suffer in silence. But challenged by his Sunday school teacher that those
who undergo adversity have a responsibility to give something back, he
spoke up at Gethsemene Church one recent Sunday morning. He felt like
telling fellow church members why they hadn't seen him at church much.

"I started talking about the disease and how I was HIV-positive. People
really accepted me. I had young people running up to me and hugging me,"
said the 50-year old Doster, the former owner of Gregory's Southern Diner
in Rock Hill. But even as he went public with his illness, he felt a twinge
of fear. "I hadn't told my mother-in-law yet," he chuckled. "We had to
leave church and get to her house before the phone started ringing."

Emboldened by the congregation's initial response to his public statement
about AIDS, Doster returned with members of his Regional AIDS Interfaith
Network (RAIN) support team and put on a complete HIV/AIDS awareness seminar.

Based on the success of that event, the New Orleans native applied for and
secured a $1,800 grant from the Catawba AIDS Prevention Network to conduct
six Empowering Ourselves For Change programs - three in churches and three
in community centers - over the next year.

"No one else is speaking out," said Doster, who will direct his energy
primarily toward black churches and community groups but never turn down
any invitations. His warning: unprotected sex and intravenous drug use is
dangerous.

"All these pregnant young women out there are not having safe sex," Doster
said."They don't know who they are having sex with."

According to state health department statistics, African-Americans make up
79 percent of HIV/AIDS cases in S.C. African-American babies make up 80
percent of pediatric AIDS cases. Because of the heavy toll the disease is
taking on the black community, Doster makes a suitable spokesman to warn
others of the dangers that lay ahead.

"He's willing to be a public speaker. It's something we don't see a lot,"
said Paula Whisonant, program director for the Catawba AIDS Prevention
Network, which this year has distributed about $10,000 in grants to
individuals and groups throughout York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Whenever Whisonant conducts HIV/AIDS education programs, participants
usually want to hear from people with personal experience dealing with the
disease.

"The number one thing people want to see is somebody who is HIV-positive.
They want to talk to them one-on-one about what their day to day life is
like," said Whisonant, who added that there is no shortage of HIV-positive
people who don't mind speaking in settings far from home but won't speak in
public locally for fear of exposing their children, spouses and relatives
to being shunned.

Doster already has dealt with that issue, she said.

"His strongest selling point is his personal testimony," Whisonant said.
"He's godsent."

Doster's story begins in Rochester, N.Y., where he lived for 17 years
before moving south in 1988. That same year he underwent two months of drug
rehabilitation to kick a longtime heroin and cocaine addiction.

In 1991, while working as a cook in Rock Hill he met his wife, Sandra.
After Doster suffered through bouts of shingles, bronchitis, diarrhea and
other illnesses in 2000, his physician recommended an HIV/AIDS test. He
tested positive and had a viral load that indicated the disease had
compromised his immune system.

"I should have been dead," said Doster, who remembers not being overly
concerned about his condition. "The only thing I was worried about was my
wife."

Thus far his wife has tested negative, he said. Over the past two years,
his weight dropped from 146 to 98 pounds and later rebounded. Now on
disability, his focus is on his new purpose. He recently spoke to senior
citizens at Calvary Baptist Church about HIV/AIDS. His message is
unequivocal; it's hopeful. AIDS kills, but medical science can prolong life.

"This is not a death sentence," he said. "It's a life sentence as long as
you take care of yourself."