--- title: "Meet the Second Person — Ever — to Be Cured of HIV" description: "A fascinating story in The New York Times profiles Adam Castillejo, the second-ever person to be cured of HIV -- known, until now, only by a pseudonym." date: "2020-03-10" modified: "2020-03-10" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/hiv-cured-adam-castillejo" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "health" - "HIV" - "lymphoma" --- # Meet the Second Person — Ever — to Be Cured of HIV ![A fascinating story in The New York Times profiles Adam Castillejo, the second-ever person to be cured of HIV -- known, until now, only by a pseudonym.]() *\Image: NIAID/Victor Tangermann\* A [fascinating story]() in *The New York Times* profiles Adam Castillejo, the second-ever person to be cured of HIV. "This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position," he said. "I want to be an ambassador of hope." Last March, [doctors announced]() they cured a pseudonymous patient's HIV using a bone marrow transplant from a donor with an unusual mutation that made them resistant to the deadly virus. Castillejo, though, waited until now to come forward with his real name. One reason, according to the *Times*, is that his doctors weren't quite as convinced as the news media last year that his HIV was genuinely cured, at least at first. Researchers have tried to eliminate HIV in many patients, but only succeeded once before, in 2008. In Castillejo's case, the paper noted, doctors initially used the word "remission" instead of "cure." It's worth noting that the technique isn't likely to become practical for most patients. Castillejo was only eligible because he had lymphoma in addition to his HIV, and matched with a donor. And the recovery process, in the *Times*' telling, was absolutely punishing. Castillejo lost almost 70 pounds and stayed in the hospital for months while he fought off infections, ulcers and followup operations. But now that it's clearer that his HIV is staying away — his virologist, in a new interview with the *Times*, did finally use the word "cure" — Castillejo has decided to speak out in order to provide hope for other patients who feel as though they're run out of hope. "I was struggling mentally," he said of his life after receiving his lymphoma diagnosis. "I try to look at the bright side, but the brightness was fading." ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()