By Larry Fine NEW YORK, Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - Earvin "Magic" Johnson stunned the sports world in 1991 when he announced he was infected with HIV and was leaving the Los Angeles Lakers at the peak of his career. The basketball great has now taken on a new challenge -- spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS and the importance of safe sex. He is taking his HIV/AIDS message especially to African Americans, who represent 13 percent of the U.S. population but are diagnosed with half of all new HIV infections. "I'm here because of what happened to me, I don't want it to happen to you," he recently told some New York students during a national campaign by the Magic Johnson Foundation and Abbott healthcare company. "I have no one to blame but myself for what happened to me because I knew better. I knew HIV was out there but I was having unprotected sex." Q: How did your family react to you getting HIV? A: "My wife, Cookie, was pregnant at that time with my son, EJ. The toughest thing I ever thought I was going to have to do was playing against Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. But the toughest thing I really had to do in my life was to drive home to tell my wife I had HIV. Thank God she was OK and the baby was OK. When I told her I understood if she wanted to leave, she reached back and made like Mike Tyson and hit me upside my head. The greatest thing was that she stayed with me. I'm here to tell you that HIV is out here in a big way. you must make the right decisions and right choices. I'm not naive to think that young people in this room are not having sex. If you're going to do it, protect yourself and your partner. But the safest sex is no sex." Q: Some people say you are cured now. A: "I've been dealing with it for 15 years and hopefully I'll continue to deal with it for another 30, 40 years." Q: Are you still playing basketball? A: "I still get out there and get running with them for a couple of hours. And I'm still doing my thing on them, too. You just hurt more when you're done playing at age 47." Q: What else do you do to take care of yourself? A: "I work out five days a week. I take my medicine every day like I'm supposed to and Cookie makes sure that I eat right. And then I have a positive attitude about life. I want to stay healthy because I want to walk my daughter down the aisle one day and I want to make sure my two little men become men, and I want to grow old with Cookie. That has kept me strong." Q: What advice do you have for students these days? A: "It's not about the clothes that you have on. It's not about who you're hanging out with. It's about you taking care of your business. Don't let peer pressure get you to do something that you shouldn't be doing. Dream big, go after your dreams. Everything you want to do in life you're going to be able to do it from getting a good education."
