For the past couple years, I've known of Ryan Lewis only as the handsome beatmaker/musician/producer driving the global ascent of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. This week, I learned a whole lot more, thanks to a message Lewis posted online:

A huge part of what's made me who I am, is something I haven't talked about in interviews. If I could just take a few moments of your time, I'd love to tell you about the strongest woman that I know, my mom, Julie Lewis.

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. By that time, she had already given birth to my sister Laura and me. We each had a 25% chance of being born HIV+, but we were extremely fortunate (today, the risk of a mother passing HIV to her baby is 2% or less if she is taking medication). Thanks to advanced medicine and healthcare available here in the U.S., my mom has lived despite her odds.

To honor the thirty years my mom has been a survivor, our family is raising funds to build health centers worldwide that will stand strong for at least thirty years. We're calling it the 30/30 Project.

See Ryan Lewis tell his story and hold forth on the mission of 30/30 in the video after the jump, and contribute to the 30/30 campaign right here.