Shine NOW! Magazine June Issue 2016 June 2016 Issue 1 Volume 1 | Page 16

Things were happening quickly in Doretta’s life.
Newly graduated from nursing school, she was
offered a job in the hospital where she worked
her way up from working in the kitchen to being
a medical aide.
Her life was finally changing, but when she
learned an AIDS test was required for the position, she had to face the ghosts of her past.
Doretta abused intravenous drugs for 10 years
to numb her pain. She was a survivor of incest
by her father and abandoned by her mother.
Her lifestyle left her vulnerable to many things,
such as infectious diseases. People around her
was dying, but she refused to be a statistic. She
states in her book, “But I needed to stop the hell
that I had allowed drugs hold me in.” Prayer and
counseling were her tickets out of the addiction,
but she knew she had more work to do.
Her counselor advised her to move to Minneapolis to get clean, because they had the best
program for individuals on public assistance to
rehabilitate themselves from drugs. She
followed the leading of the Lord and left everything behind in New York.
Once in the state’s human services office, she
was faced with adversity, because her case
worker was livid that another person from out
of the state was going to milk the system for
treatment. He told her, “I’m tired of you people
from New York moving her to get all of our
money.” She left in tears, but the next day, that
same man approved her to receive all the
money she need for treatment. Doretta states,
“If you listen to God your path is ordered. We
must take action once he speaks.”
Reflecting on her successful recovery from
drugs, she knew God would direct her through
this life changing diagnosis. Ms. Gadsden
sought God to change her life in the past.
Prayer was the first tool to turn her life around.
She states, “I attend Zion Church and we practice meditation and affirmations. I prayed my
way through drug addiction.”
However, once she heard the diagnosis of
AIDS, she states, “I could not pray at that
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moment.” The women she requested to tell her
the results was the director of the facility.
Initially, the woman was aloof and seemed
annoyed when
she give Doretta the news. She said, “You
already know given your history.”
Oddly, she softened once she saw Doretta’s
reaction and said, “Doretta, look at what you
have already accomplished. This is not a death
sentence. What if you entertain that you can
live a vibrant life with an AIDS diagnosis?”
Doretta states, “She did not let me leave the
room defeated. She was the angel that held my
space for me. My spirit came back into the
room.”
Doretta took the steps necessary to manage
the disease. She started by building a positive
support group including the proper doctors
and therapists. She states, “it was critical that I
be surrounded by people who would think
bigger than an AIDS diagnosis; and if they did
not I removed myself from their presence.”
The strategies she outlined to deal with a life
changing diagnosis include the following:
1. Pray and meditate: Sit still and give God time.
2. Journaling: Write down your thoughts and
emotions.
3. Stretch yourself: Surround yourself with
people who are where you want to be.
4. Be Proactive: Take an active role in your
health care and research the best doctors
and medications.
Although she was an addict during the height
of the AIDS and HIV epidemic in the 1980s, God
uses Doretta’s traumatic experiences to uplift
others. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that
all things work together for the good to them
that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.” (KJV)
She encourages patients diagnosed with AIDS
to thrive in the face of their disease. They see a
vibrant professional woman excelling on the
job. She states, “You never know the seeds you
are planting in a person’s life.”