Meet Akin Akintayo, HIV positive Nigerian man who came out as gay through Funmi Iyanda.
In 2002, 51 year old Akin Akintayo, pictured below, found out he was HIV positive.
In 2009, at the height of his career and life, Akin was diagnosed with Kaposi Sarcoma. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a cancer that develops from the cells that line lymph or blood vessels. This type of KS develops in people who are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Soon after his cancer diagnosis, Akin also developed full-blown AIDS. Without any family in the Netherlands where he was based, he spent weeks in hospital and months of chemotherapy on his own.
A year and a half later, Akin’s cancer had gone into remission and his HIV viral load fallen to undetectable. His doctors believe it was a miraculous recovery.
Yesterday through renowned TV personality, Funmi Iyanda, Akin Akintayo came out as gay in a moving story now gone viral that Funmi shared on her Medium page.
In it, Funmi revealed how her friend Akin Akintayo’s disease took its toll on him, his work and finances such that he had to sell his half a million Euro penthouse. Akin suffered job loss, home loss and eventual homelessness.
