Twelve years ago, Lyndon Hallmark’s life felt like it was crashing.
Living in the heart of rural southeast Texas, he’d just ended what he describes as a “bad marriage” complicated by his ex’s use of intravenous drugs. He’d been in and out of the hospital multiple times with pneumonia. He’d lost a significant amount of weight and carried only 158 pounds on his 5’11” frame. “I just kept getting sick,” Lyndon says.
Finally, one of the customers of the restaurant chain he was managing gave him some sage advice. “She was a nurse and told me, ‘There’s more going on with you than just pneumonia. There is a place in Beaumont you need to visit.’ ”
That place was TAN Healthcare, a beacon of affordable and accessible community care founded on the fundamental belief that healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege. At the time, TAN was a Ryan White grantee providing medical and support services to people living with HIV, and it has since extended its services as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). It offered rapid HIV testing services.
Lyndon’s test came back positive for HIV. It also revealed that his CD4 count—a laboratory test that provides insights into the health of a patient’s immune system—was nine (a healthy adult should have a CD4 count between 500 and 1500), and his viral load was 12 million. “I was in the beginning stages of AIDS,” he says. “Back then, all I knew about AIDS was that Ryan White and Rock Hudson had died from it. I thought I had just been handed a death sentence.”
Fortunately, “TAN loved me back to life,” Lyndon says. “At my first appointment, my doctor assured me that there was medication available that could return me to a healthy point. He told me, ‘A year from now, you’ll have other things to think about than your HIV diagnosis.’”
Spoiler alert: That doctor was right.
Now 60 years old, Lyndon works at TAN, an Avita covered entity partner, as a referral follow-up coordinator. He also lives on his family farm, makes a mean fried chicken recipe for the visitors who are always welcome at his home, and enjoys hanging out with his six grandkids. Voted “The Heart of TAN” at last year’s holiday party, he has dedicated his life to sharing his wellness journey and advocating for patients newly diagnosed with HIV. “I say to them, ‘Let me tell you my story,’” he says. “‘Let’s talk about how you come to terms with HIV in your heart and mind so you can learn to live.’”
Read on to learn more about how Lyndon came to live with HIV with hope, heart, and grace—and help others do the same.
I was in the beginning stages of AIDS. Back then, all I knew about AIDS was that Ryan White and Rock Hudson had died from it. I thought I had just been handed a death sentence.
Coming to terms with an HIV diagnosis ...
and paying it forward
Lyndon doesn’t sugarcoat the start of his wellness journey. He explains that coming to terms with his HIV diagnosis was a struggle at first. “Living in southeast Texas, I’m as country as they come,” he says. “There’s still a lot of stigma here. Right after my diagnosis, my family was unsure about my eating off their plates or hugging my grandkids. I felt like I had “HIV POSITIVE” tattooed on my forehead in bright neon. I didn’t want to face anyone; I just felt defeated.”
However, the TAN team offered him HIV education and reassurance about his ability to regain his health if he adhered to the treatment program, information he passed along to his family and others. He slowly came to terms with his diagnosis from a mental health perspective as well. “One morning, I woke up and thought, ‘I’ve got HIV. I’m stuck with this diagnosis, and I need to figure out how to make the best of it,’” Lyndon says.
One morning, I woke up and thought, 'I've got HIV. I'm stuck with this diagnosis, and I need to figure out how to make the best of it.'
Fast forward two years: Lyndon had remained compliant with his medications and was unlocking the full potential of his health. During a routine appointment at TAN, he learned that the team member working at the check-in desk was changing roles. “I told her that she was part of the reason I was standing there, and that whoever they hired to take her place needed to have her same heart,” he recalls. An hour and a half later, he received a phone call asking him if he’d like to take over the open position. The job was his for the taking.
In addition to his official responsibilities at TAN, Lyndon began acting as an advocate for patients living with HIV. And that was just the beginning. Over the last nine years, he’s helped TAN launch its mobile community outreach program (which ran from 2017 until June of 2025), watched it grow from a Ryan White grantee to a FQHC with over 9,000 patient visits a year, and helped patients with limited or no insurance gain access to comprehensive healthcare as a referral follow-up coordinator.
“Lyndon is living proof that your life is not over when you are living with HIV,” says TAN Chief Operating Officer Amanda Gibson. “He has never let his diagnosis slow him down. If anything, it sparked him to want to educate others on living a meaningful life, no matter what you face.”
“Whether it’s in health care, at church, or in my personal life, my heart is with the people who are the most vulnerable,” Lyndon says. “I’m very passionate when it comes to our patients, who need to be heard.”
For Lyndon, that means going above and beyond to compassionately care for the underserved, whether it’s helping them find specialists willing to work with their insurance scenarios, taking someone out to lunch to cheer them up, or personally driving a patient to Houston to help them access substance use recovery services. “You know how you sometimes look at a wall and see cracks?” he asks. “My job is to fill in those cracks in patient care. And sometimes healthcare isn’t just between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm.”
Lyndon is living proof that your life is not over when you are living with HIV. He has never let his diagnosis slow him down. If anything, it sparked him to want to educate others on living a meaningful life, no matter what you face.
Offering compassion and respect as a daily practice
Lyndon also credits his health to the team at Avita Pharmacy, which partners with TAN to serve patients with an onsite pharmacy at the health center’s Beaumont, Texas, location.
“I’m very proud of the quality of care Avita gives to our patients,” he says. “Many of them feel vulnerable when they come in. Avita welcomed me with open arms and a heart of understanding, and I want everyone else to walk away with that experience.”
In particular, he shouts out Avita Lead Pharmacy Technician Brittini Mazzola for her compassionate care. “Brittany is one of the most tireless people I know,” he says. “They’re all amazing. At one point, my rheumatoid arthritis flared up badly, and I was out of the office for three months because I could hardly walk. The team at Avita would call me and say, ‘Hey, Mr. Lyndon, do you want us to mail your prescriptions to you or run them by your house?’ They treat the rest of TAN’s patients the same way. I get all my prescriptions from Avita, and I never miss a refill.”
Every patient deserves the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, Brittini says. “Treating people with compassion and respect should be a daily practice.” For example, most patients living in rural areas struggle to receive their medications in a timely manner. “Avita ensures that all patients within a certain radius get next-day or two-day delivery so they don’t have to wonder when their medications will show up,” she explains. “We can take care of that worry for them.”
TAN’s Amanda Gibson also speaks passionately about the importance of accessible healthcare in rural areas. “Healthcare for those in rural communities is more important now than ever because the little resources they may have had are going away,” she says. “Local small-town doctors are retiring, moving, or no longer able to operate independently due to the rising cost of living, etc. We are there to support them and the communities. Everyone deserves quality and affordable healthcare.”
Every patient deserves the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, Brittini says. “Treating people with compassion and respect should be a daily practice.
“Being HIV positive is not something I'm going to let defeat me.”
What’s next for Lyndon? First, he’s got other things on his mind than his HIV diagnosis, just as his TAN provider promised him during his first visit. Like over 50% of patients currently living with HIV, he is over 50 years old and working to fine-tune health issues that can crop up as people get older. Care from TAN and Avita team members has helped him lose 35 pounds in the last six months, drastically lower his cholesterol, blood pressure, and A1C levels, and manage rheumatoid arthritis.
“I can remember, back when I was first diagnosed, that some of the information available from the CDC said people living with HIV could have a shorter life expectancy even if you got your viral load in check,” he says. “You don’t read that anymore.”
Lyndon points out that he’s far from being done living. “I want to take care of myself so I can DO,” he says. In addition to his daily responsibilities at TAN, he speaks to local community groups about TAN’s services and the importance of healthcare. He also continues to share his story as a patient advocate.
To people who are newly diagnosed with HIV, living with HIV, or seeking HIV prevention, he says, “You may feel like you’re alone, but you’re never alone. A closed mouth doesn’t get fed. If you keep asking the questions, someone’s going to have the answers you need. Everyone has something that they’re walking through, and how you walk through it is how you get through it.”
Lyndon is thankful for his own health journey and is committed to paying it forward to others who are embarking on their own. “Do I wish I were in a different place in terms of being HIV positive?” he asks. “Probably. But had I not walked into TAN almost dead 12 years ago, I wouldn’t have this job. I wouldn’t be able to do the things I do for patients.”
While he’s transparent about the challenges he faced along the way, “Now I’m able to look people in the face without feeling ashamed or like a burden,” he says. “I let people see that being HIV positive is not something I’m going to let defeat me. They say you never know how strong you are until you have to be strong, and there’s no other option.
“I think about my wellness journey and what others did for me, how they went above and beyond,” Lyndon says. “I hope people look back at me and say, ‘Mr. Lyndon helped me get to a place where I could come to terms with what my life looks like after being diagnosed.’ When my coworkers, patients, or grandkids think about me, I want them to remember that when I walked away from something, I added value to it.”
Now I’m able to look people in the face without feeling ashamed or like a burden. I let people see that being HIV positive is not something I'm going to let defeat me. They say you never know how strong you are until you have to be strong, and there's no other option.
