LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
Timothy Ray Brown, known as the "Berlin Patient," has had HIV levels below the limit of detection since he had bone marrow transplants in 2007.
Now that a Mississippi baby born with HIV is being called the first documented case of a child being cured of the virus, Brown may not be alone.
"Because she's so young, she probably isn't really aware that she is a miracle baby, but she is," Brown told FOX5 Monday.
It's company for which Brown said he has long waited.
"Can't really talk to her yet because she's only two, but I hope to meet her," Brown said.
Brown, who in medical journals is known as the "Berlin Patient," found out he was HIV positive in 1995.
In 2007 he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for leukemia when he received a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a rare inherited gene mutation resistant to the HIV virus.
Since then, his doctors say he's beaten both diseases.
"I am definitely cured. I don't have to take any medication anymore," Brown said.
But spending a year in the hospital and having some tests costing more than $1 million, and still being given a 5% chance to survive, the treatment process took a lot out of Brown.
"It almost killed me, so I wouldn't recommend this for anyone," Brown said.
But the way the Mississippi toddler was cured with readily available drugs is one Brown says will be much easier than what he went through.
Brown offered his advice to that toddler.
"Live life to the fullest," Brown said.
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Timothy Ray Brown had a bone marrow transplant before his HIV levels were below detection.
