Ryan White
Ryan White
Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. As a hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Doctors said he posed no risk to other students, but AIDS was poorly understood at the time. When White tried to return to...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth6 December 1971
CityKokomo, IN
CountryUnited States of America
The desire to move into a bigger house, to avoid living AIDS daily, and a dream to be accepted by a community and school, became possible and a reality with a movie about my life, The Ryan White Story.
AIDS can destroy a family if you let it, but luckily for my sister and me, Mom taught us to keep going. Don't give up, be proud of who you are, and never feel sorry for yourself.
A lot of my time was spent searching, thinking and planning my life.
Entertainers, athletes, and stars started giving me support.
Eventually, I won the right to attend school, but the prejudice was still there.
Given six months to live and being the fighter that I am, I set high goals for myself.
I spent Christmas and the next thirty days in the hospital,
Most recently my battle has been against AIDS and the discrimination surrounding it.
Mayor Koch, of New York, was the first public figure to give me support.
I was labeled a troublemaker, my mom an unfit mother, and I was not welcome anywhere.
Twice a week I would receive injections or IV's of Factor VIII which clotted the blood and then broke it down.
The school I was going to said they had no guidelines for a person with AIDS.
The first five to six years of my life were spent in and out of the hospital.
People would get up and leave so they would not have to sit anywhere near me.