A college roommate gave Steve Sawyer the support he needed to deal with the death sentence of full-blown AIDS.

In a speech sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ and given in the Memorial Union Thursday night, Sawyer, 20, said his roommate changed Sawyer’s life by sharing his Christian faith with him.

Sawyer was born a hemophiliac and as part of his treatment, took the blood-clotting agent Factor Eight, taken from a blood donor. Sawyer contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from a donor between 1980 and 1983.

Sawyer didn’t find out that he was HIV positive until his sophomore year in high school. At that time, Sawyer didn’t tell anyone outside of his family that he had HIV.

“I just tried to deny that it was there,” Sawyer said.

This denial existed for about two years, until Sawyer was a senior in high school and his condition became symptomatic. Sawyer’s T-cell count dropped to below 200, an indicator of AIDS. The T-cell count of a healthy person is around 500.

Unable to cope with the thought of not being able to see his twentieth birthday, Sawyer turned to anger as a way of releasing all his hurt.

“I would punch walls till my knuckles bled. At the time, hurting everyone that loved me was the only way I could release everything that was hurting me,” Sawyer explained.

“You should never, ever, do anything in anger,” he said. “Anger clouds your mind and keeps you from thinking and acting rationally.”

It was at this point of utter despair in his life when Sawyer’s father told him that the only one who could help him was God.

“Figuring I had no choice, I dropped down on my knees and asked God for help,” Sawyer said.

In 1993, Sawyer decided to attend Curry College in Boston, Mass., to study political science. Sawyer’s life was changed by his roommate, who was a Christian.

“He shattered all the stereotypes I had of Christians,” said Sawyer. “When all the stereotypes were thrown out, I decided that this was the most logical faith.”

Sawyer was influenced by his roommate’s example of coping with dyslexia. When he would reach the point of frustration, Sawyer said, he would ask God for help and get back to work.

The way his roommate chose to handle his problems was very surprising to Sawyer, who was used to punching out walls to release his anger and hurt.

During the spring break of his freshmen year in college, Sawyer went to Daytona Beach with a Christian group on campus, figuring he had nothing to loose since the trip was free.

On this trip, Sawyer said, he found out from one of his friends what it was to be a true Christian.

Sawyer explained that being a Christian meant having a loving and personal relationship with God.

“I believe that there is a God in heaven who loves us and wants us to have a personal relationship with him,” Sawyer said.

When Sawyer realized this, his life began to change. His parents and his three brothers all became Christians. This newfound hope is what is enabling his family to deal with the situation, Sawyer said.

“My dad told me not to become a Bible thumper,” Sawyer said. “And now he’s one himself.”

When Sawyer found out on Feb. 26, 1994, that he had only six months to live and that he had contracted hepatitis C (which would later lead to cirrhosis of the liver), he decided to drop out of college and travel nationwide telling people how God had changed his life.

“I feel I’d be ripping you guys off right now if I didn’t give you the same chance I had,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said his mission for his last days is to finish all his talks on campuses nationwide, sharing how his faith in God has brought him hope.

When asked what his life was like living with AIDS, Sawyer emphasized that his life wasn’t about living with AIDS, but how accepting Christ has changed his life.

“There has been a big, big change in my life,” Sawyer said.