Ryan White(1971-1990)
- Actor
Ryan White was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1971. A hemophiliac, Ryan
regularly needed injections of blood products to survive. In 1985 at
the age of 13, it was discovered that Ryan contracted the AIDS virus,
sometime during the previous year, from tainted blood. His case got
national attention when his school expelled him when they learned about
his disease. Not wanting to lie down and die that easily, Ryan and his
parents took the school to court, where they won the right for him to
return to class. As a result of Ryan's courage and outspokenness to
take on his own school board, be became one of the USA's most visible
spokesperson on the AIDS crisis. During 1985-1989, he appeared at
schools and AIDS fundraisers throughout the country and gave moving
testimony before the President's Commission on AIDS. He was befriended
by many celebrities, including
Michael Jackson,
Elton John,
Phil Donahue and
Elizabeth Taylor, AIDS
activists themselves. Despite overwhelming international attention,
Ryan never lost his sense of priorities with his schoolwork or life in
general. AIDS finally claimed Ryan's life on April 8, 1990 at the age
of 18.
