Welcome to my website!
I'm Ron Kudrako, author of More Than a Wheelchair, More Than HIV: Overcoming PML.

You can view my BLOG here

About the Author
The primary and only credential for the author, Ron Kudrako, writing this memoir is that he lived it. The author's biography IS this book. Both straight and gay people will appreciate and benefit from this story, particularly when the author shares his battle experiences of pre- and post-PML to inspire and help those suffering from it and any other devastating diseases. It is his conviction, that determination to survive and overcome, which is a discipline that should be shared by all with or without a disability or disease.

His story begins with a dire diagnosis peppered by flashbacks of an innocent childhood and the various stages of sexual awakening and the gay lifestyle that led to the spiral downward with AIDS, his flirtation with death and a slow, but enthusiastic recovery. As a survivor, he wants to bring as many people as possible to a new awareness of the challenges presented by all diseases, challenges which he met with extraordinary success when anyone is willing to try.

This memoir recounts the various events in his life that molded him into the person he is today. Every decision he made in life whether personal or professional directed him to this result that changed his life. He has shared many of the same struggles that all of us face as each encounter cancer, a stroke, Multiple Sclerosis and an entire list of degenerative diseases. His hope is that everyone acknowledges that the desire to overcome any affliction is the same for all. HIV is a struggle, too, compounded by the added obstacles of PML and needs to be addressed and re-examined.

About my latest book, More Than a Wheelchair, More Than HIV: Overcoming PML

What if you were told that you might possibly spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair? Oh, and you are HIV positive too! And, only a few seemed to care?

More Than a Wheelchair; More than HIV is a story, my story, of survival of AIDS in the years after 2000 and having to cope with the challenges it presented me. It is so disturbing and disheartening to see the growing indifference toward HIV and to have a younger generation oblivious and unconcerned by its possible resurgence as a life-altering moment in their carefree lives.

I was told that I was going to die numerous times in November 1999, but I astounded them first by recovering and then with my determination and use of imagination in my therapies and exercises hoping to regain what I had lost at the beginning of my bout with PML (Progressive Multifocal Leucoencephalopathy). I usually explain PML as like having a stroke. It is the simplest explanation.

The PML had taken so much from me which left me to re-build my shattered life piece by piece and this book highlights the various obstacles I had to overcome to attain my goals. Every barrier presented to me brought a new round of flashbacks of my childhood, my career and my happy-go-lucky gay life. As I improved, every hurdle inspired me to write my thoughts.

Many things have changed since I first faced the onset of AIDS - new forms of treatments, new drugs and new hope, as well as indifference and attitudes. This story can be used for any physical challenge but gives a more human feel to the HIV/ AIDS crisis which seems to be almost forgotten which should be a source of concern to everyone.