From birth, Joseph Kibbler has lived with a form of the HIV virus that affected the gray matter in his brain, disabling his legs in a manner similar to cerebral palsy and confining him to a wheelchair. He eventually progressed to a walker and, by the time he was 18, a cane.
From an early age, he was told every year, "This may be the last year of your life." He is now 25 years old.
Kibbler trained for a six-mile AIDS walk in Los Angeles in October 2010. A documentary on his training for the event, titled "Walk On," will air at the Crossroads Film Festival April 6 at 3:20 p.m.
"Walk On" started as a public service announcement on AIDS, and eventually turned into a three-year documentary.
"My team and I did an interview for the PSA, and we needed help editing it," Kibbler says. "We went to a man named Mark Bashian, and he became the director. He wanted to know why a kid with cerebral palsy wanted to be part of an AIDS walk. He didn't know my story. After I told him my story, he looked at me ... and said, 'You're the story. You have something you should share.'"
Kibbler says every step he takes emanates pain.
"It hurts to walk," Kibbler says in the documentary. "It feels like 50-pound weights are on each side of my foot."
Kibbler had a twin brother, also born HIV positive, named John who died from the disease in 1990, as well as an older brother who contracted the virus.
"Half of my family is HIV positive—two aunts, two uncle and two cousins," Vincent Ferro, one of Kibbler's cousins, says in "Walk On."
Some of Kibbler's family members, friends and former pediatricians were worried that he would over-exert himself and end up back in a wheelchair. But Kibbler finished the 6.2-mile AIDS walk and has since made similar walks a regular part of his life.
Kibbler encourages all sexually active people to get tested. He wants people to know that while it's a scary thing to find out, those affected have many treatment options available. Kibbler says that he enjoys life like any other person and still has a good group of friends. He also has a girlfriend.
"The best thing I've gotten out of this is being so open with my own story," Kibbler said. "People really do open up to you when you open up to them. Don't be afraid to open up to people. We're all pretty much similar."
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