[AIDS] Jeff Getty Dead

The news reports are out that AIDS activist Jeff Getty has died at age 49 ultimately due to heart failure after battling both AIDS and cancer.

His sort of "claim to fame" was his willingness to undergo a highly radical medical procedure back in 1995, which was to have a bone marrow transplant from a baboon in the hopes that the baboon's natural immunity to AIDS would be transferred to him. It was the first-ever trans-species bone marrow transplant in history, a clearly desperate but brave move on his part in the hopes of a cure.

His life was devoted to his activism as demonstrated by his willingness to participate in many experimental hospital trials, numerous protests accompanied by a number of arrests as well.

I tried a Google search on [Jeff Getty], but didn't come up with much except for some older articles posted when the baboon transplant first happened. It's kind of sad, really. I was hoping he made more of an impact on the web as a whole.

Goodbye, Jeff. You'll certainly be missed, but I hope not forgotten.