• Joseph Kibler was born with HIV, but through a strict medication regimen, it is currently undetectable
• He and his wife Carey Cox are currently expecting their first child in April 2025 and their child will be HIV negative
• The couple said they had other concerns besides Kibler’s HIV status when they planned to have their first child

Joseph Kibler was born with HIV and has battled the virus his entire life, but when he and his wife, Carey Cox, started talking about starting a family, it was just one piece of their fertility puzzle.

“As long as my HIV is undetectable, They cannot transmit HIV to my partner or a child,” Kibler tells PEOPLE, noting that he double-checked with his doctors that he was still healthy before he and Cox began their fertility journey.

In fact, Kibler and Cox say Cox’s disability was more of a concern while they were planning for a child.

“I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which causes me chronic pain and joint problems and affects how I walk,” says Cox. “Really, in our discussion about having a baby — because you can pass on Ehlers-Danlos syndrome — it was more of a conversation than the possibility of HIV.”

Although Kibler was born with HIV, through a diligent medication regimen he has been undetectable, meaning he cannot pass the virus to his wife or their child. Ehlers-Danlos, however, can be genetically passed from parent to child, and at this time, there are no genetic tests available to determine whether or not a fetus has the specific type of Cox.

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“The conversation became more with doctors about, well, if we had a child with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, how would we best care for them and what would their quality of life be?” Cox continued.

Kibler and Cox, who met in early 2020, are expecting their child in early 2025. Kibler shared the news of their pregnancy on his TikTok and Instagram pages, confirming with his audience of over 180,000 followers that their child will be born HIV negative.

“I was able to break a cycle and heal something I didn’t think I could,” Kibler wrote in his video.

Since then, the TikTok has been viewed over 888,000 times and garnered 164,000 likes; the comments are filled with notes from other users who have loved ones who have died of HIV or AIDS, or who knew the AIDS epidemic when it began in the 1980s.

“I’m not sure the younger generation is able to appreciate this the same way those of us who lived through it,” wrote one commenter. “CONGRATULATIONS you did it.”

“Many, many blessings to you and your wife. My mother died of AIDS in 1995. I was 17, my sister 3 days shy of 13,” commented another TikTok user. “This is news we never thought possible back then.”

Kibler began creating content online in 2021, frequently using his platform to talk about both his HIV status and life with cerebral palsy. He says he’s been honest about his status since he was a teenager, noting that keeping such a central part of his life a secret was something he had to do as a child that eventually took its toll negatively on his mental health.

“When I started doing content online again, it was like, well, well, it’s hard for me to get very far through all the things I want to talk about without mentioning (my HIV status),” Kibler says. “And then once you mention that you have a choice to make, because people will ask questions.”

“I got to a point where I wasn’t going to get involved with anybody, or have relationships with anybody, or even friendships with people who didn’t know about my status because it was intertwined with me,” he continues.

Kibler and Cox plan to move in with her mother soon after their baby arrives for extra help in the first few days of parenthood. In the meantime, they’re doing as much research as they can to make sure they’re fully prepared to care for their newborn — well, as prepared as any new parent can be.

“I know our baby is going to be different from any baby I’ve ever met,” Cox says, adding that her current job in childcare has taught her how to adapt.

“We’re raising our child, and our child is not other people’s children,” Kibler says. “They will grow up knowing us and knowing how we move. You know, you just adapt to your surroundings.”