She found out she was HIV positive at age 18 from a routine Pap test appointment at which a nurse encouraged her to get tested for HIV as she had had six partners. Jako did not consider herself to be at risk for HIV nor Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and took the test out of social responsibility. When diagnosed, she was told she would be lucky to live to age 25. During her studies at PNCA, she began work with another HIV-positive woman, Rebecca Guberman, on a documentary film, "Blood Lines", which would later be broadcast on MTV as "True Life: It Could Be You" from 1999– 2004. Production assistance came from the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, Wieden & Kennedy and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is now distributed as an educational video. An updated version of Blood Lines was released in 2015.