This has been an eventful year: In January, I finally gave in to Vinny’s many months of asking, and we welcomed Troika into our home. She’s a Doberman-mix rescued from Texas after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In February, Vinny slipped and fell during the season’s only blizzard and shattered his shoulder. Miraculously, after tons of physical therapy it’s about 85% healed.
At the end of March, Vinny was kicked out of hospice care (after four years) for not dying “within weeks” as expected. We miss the 54 hours of home care each week, but we’re thrilled to report that Vinny’s health has continued to improve. They can’t explain why he’s better, but he just is.
Unfortunately, Mark’s health has not fared quite so well. After months of extreme fatigue and frequent migraines, six weeks ago Mark was diagnosed with hepatitis C and polycythemia in addition to HIV (more details on the website). He has just begun a medical “sabbatical” from POZ Magazine to focus on supporting his own health and to begin additional treatments.
We’re happy to announce that Vinny’s niece, Melanie Allegrini Alvarez (who he helped parent) and her new husband, Steve (who is just back from Iraq), gave birth on October 20th to a new generation: Gabriel Antonio Alvarez!
Lastly, we’re thrilled that after two years in the making, our award-winning HBO documentary, Positively + Naked, will be broadcast on Cinemax, starting on World AIDS Day, December 1st at 7 PM Eastern (see the back of our holiday card [the graphic is actually below] and check local listings for additional broadcast times). Vinny and I are very proud to be an important part of this wonderful film.
For more details, lots of photos and the latest news, visit our website:
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