Doctors Only Gave Him 6 Months To Live, But Instead, He Survived For 5 More Years While He Fought To Make Sure People With AIDS Got Better Care Before He Passed Away At 18
Kokomo, Indiana. Ryan White lived in Kokomo, Indiana along with his family, and he was born with a very rare disease called hemophilia A.
Hemophilia A is inherited, and it prevents someone’s blood from properly clotting.
Ryan needed to get a blood transfusion to help with his disease in December of 1984, and he, unfortunately, was diagnosed with AIDS after he received the transfusion.
Ryan was just 13-years-old when he was diagnosed with AIDS, and doctors told his parents that he only had 6 months left to live.
Ryan became one of the very first children to ever be diagnosed with AIDS, and back then, so very little was known about it.
“When Ryan White tried to return to school, he fought AIDS-related discrimination in his Indiana community,” a website created in his memory reads.
“Along with his mother Jeanne White Ginder, Ryan White rallied for his right to attend school – gaining national attention – and became the face of public education about his disease.”
People said extremely awful things to Ryan after they learned of his diagnosis. He was accused of being gay, and he was accused of having done terrible things to have come down with AIDS.
Instagram; pictured above is a photo of Ryan White posted by RiseUpToHIV
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Ryan and his family picked up and moved to Cicero, Indiana, where thankfully people were far kinder. They welcomed him into the community.
Ryan was able to go to school again without being discriminated against, and he was invited to school dances and school proms.
Ryan beat the odds, and he survived for 5 more years while he fought to make sure people with AIDS got better care before he passed away at the age of 18.
Ryan sadly passed away on April 8th, 1990, which was one month prior to his high school graduation.
In the months after Ryan passed, Congress passed something called the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act.
This act ensures that low-income individuals diagnosed with HIV or AIDS have access to medications, medical care, and support services.
This act also helps fund different grants to communities, cities, counties, and states to help provide treatment and care to those living with HIV in order to help reduce the transmission and improve the livelihood of those living with it.
Each year in the U.S, over half of those who are diagnosed with HIV obtain services from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program each year.
December 6th would have been Ryan White’s 50th birthday. “Ryan White is not alive to celebrate his 50th birthday, Dec. 6. But thousands of people living with HIV crossed the half-century mark recently,” RiseUpToHIV wrote in an Instagram post for Ryan’s birthday.
“They might not realize it, but most of them have been helped in some way by Ryan. Along with mom Jeanne White-Ginder and HIV activists across the country, Ryan achieved the unthinkable before his untimely passing in 1990 at 18.”
“He put a human face on HIV, reduced the stigma of the diagnosis, and changed the world, starting with the U.S.”
More About:Human Interest