THE COME BACK KID!!!
Dennis Levy is 'the comeback kid'. When this outspoken, aggressive business man from Cincinnati found out in 1991 that he'd gotten HIV from a former girlfriend, he toppled from a 9-5 job as a small business consultant into cocaine addiction, petty crime, and, sporadic homelessness deepened by his brother's death from AIDS related liver cancer. "At one point," Levy recalls, " my so called T-cells went below 50. My doctors and friends said I would die if I didn't take the AIDS meds. I never did. "
Remarkably, he climbed back. After several false starts, Levy discovered God again and found an apartment, kicked coke and became a self taught HIV/AIDS Educator and activist. In 1996, he founded the BLACK AND LATINO AIDS COALITION, Inc. (BLAC), a not–for- profit voluntary organization. BLAC’s mission was to slow and/or stop the spread of HIV in communities of color particularly among heterosexuals.
The following year, he was the winner of the prestigious Citi One Award for outstanding community work in the fight against HIV. He has spoke on HIV and AIDS throughout New York City and the East coast, including Newark, Philadelphia, and Hartford. He is currently finishing a book of his experience: Reports From The Frontline: The AIDS Crisis Is Over But We Are Losing The War On HIV. (see link 'My Book')
Dennis Levy lives in the Bronx in New York City with his two children, Deniece and Michael.
Read the teleconference on Mandatory Reporting and Partner Notification with Levy: Search TheBody for Dennis Levy (March 1998) and see the Daily News Special Supplement A FRONTLINE FIGHT (Sept 1998 Supplement on AIDS Awareness ).
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