Ryan's Story
White's Childhood
Ryan White was born December 6, 1971 and lived in Kokomo Indiana with his mother. Ryan's father, Herburt White, was not actively involved in Ryan's life. Ryan was born with hemophilia: a condition that prohibits the body from making blood clots. Ryan's mother stuck by his side by providing him with support and payment for his treatments. Despite his hemophilia, White lived a fairly normal life and loved to spend time with friends and learn at school.
HIV/AIDS Diagnosis
On December 17, 1984, Ryan White (13 years old) was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS after receiving a blood transfusion that was infected with HIV/AIDS. He was having surgery to treat his pneumonia, and hemophilia. White's doctors predicted he would have six months to live. Ryan spent Christmas and most of January in the hospital, and spent dedicated most of his time preparing for his death. During this time period, Ryan and his family found it very challenging to live normally. They were discriminated against and few believed that Ryan contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. Ryan was treated very poorly by his peers and adults. At that time, less than 200 school-aged children were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
Ryan White in 1989
[Image courtesy of MPI/Getty images]
Fight for Justice
Ryan White defied odds and lived much longer than the six months his doctors predicted. When he began to feel healthy again, Ryan wished to go return to his 7th grade class at Western School Corporation, but unfortunately his superintendent prohibited him from attending class. Ryan was forced to listen to his 7th grade classes via telephone. Ryan, along with the rest of his family worked very hard to try to eliminate the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Rev Ray Probasco, one of White's family friends said, “It was Ryan who first humanized the disease called AIDS. He allowed us to see the boy who just wanted, more than anything else, to be like other children and to be able to go to school.” After continuously fighting the challenge, in 1986, he was able to begin 8th Grade based on a court order. Unfortunately, no one wanted to be his friend and his schoolmates called him "AIDS Boy". White's school forced him to use a separate bathroom, water fountain, and restricted him from taking a gym class. These restrictions made Ryan even more interested in breaking the negative connotations that HIV had. Ryan made dozens of headlines across America for his fight for an education, and met many famous people who supported his mission. He put a familiar face to other Americans with HIV and educated countless people around the world about his "mysterious disease".
“Beacause of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me” - Ryan White
The Children's Museum of Indionapolis, 1990.