Ryan Lewis got more personal than ever on Twitter yesterday afternoon, and revealed that his mother, Julie Lewis, is HIV-positive. However, there is a bright side to his announcement, as it came tied with the revealing of the 30/30 Project, a nonprofit Ryan created with his mom and Macklemore to provide access to affordable healthcare worldwide.

“A huge part of what’s made me who I am, is something I haven’t talked about in interviews, until now,” he tweeted. He also went into detail about how his mom contracted the life-threatening disease:

“In 1984, my mom gave birth to my older sister, Teresa. Due to a complicated delivery, she needed a blood transfusion and at that moment, my mom had HIV+ blood put into her body. When she was finally diagnosed, she was given only a few years to live.”

Wow! To donate to the organization (with your money going towards the initial goal of building a health center in the Neno District of Malawi, Africa, followed by three clinics in different cities in Kenya and a training center in Uganda), head to their website here. Donors will receive gifts depending on how much they contribute; ranging from tees, tote bags, signed Macklemore & Ryan Lewis merch and concert tickets.

Marisa Mendez

Source: US Weekly