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

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.”