Our Uncle Vinny Allegrini fought a couragous battle with HIV/AIDS for over twenty years. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and received support at AIDS Project Hartford - one of the founding organizations of ACT - at a time that there was little hope & few treatment options. When offered AZT, he refused to take it because his friends were getting sick and dying from it. Being a self-employed hairdresser, he was unable to qualify for health insurance so shortly after his diagnosis, he had to move to New York so he could obtain health care. In 1995 he developed PC Pnuemonia and narrowly escaped death and began taking one of the first HIV cocktails containing crixivan, which caused a lot of irreverisble liver damage. Over the years, he was in hospice twice and was kicked out for getting better! Throught his life, he was a tireless advocate for social justice causes such as gay rights, gay marriage, and HIV/AIDS. In 2015, Uncle Vinny entered hospice for a third and final time and passed away from liver complications due to many years of toxic HIV medications and chronic HBV. We miss him dearly and want to honor his memory by creating this team. Join us for the walk and/or contribute to our team and help raise money for a great cause.