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Who is Ryan White

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One of the first faces of AIDS

Ryan White was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS at age 13, in a time where society was still ignorant and fearful of HIV and AIDS. He contracted it through a Factor 8 treatment, which was a popular treatment at the time for hemophilia, a condition where blood does not clot properly.

Ryan died in 1990 at age 18, after packing in 6 years of media awareness. He was posthumously named Man of the Year by the Indianapolis Star after several years of legal battles just to continue attending school in the area.

Visit Ryan's official website.

The Ryan White Act

The Federal Ryan White Program was enacted in 1990 to improve the quality and availability of care for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals and families affected by HIV disease-those hit hardest by the epidemic. The program is named after Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS and against AIDS-related discrimination helped educate the nation. Reauthorized three times since its inception-in 1996, 2000, and 2006-the Ryan White Program delivers HIV/AIDS care to over 500,000 people each year.

Learn more about the Act here.

Ryan White's story

Many people have forgotten what it was like when AIDS wasn't yet a known epidemic, and few still understand all the ways people used to contract it. Through Ryan's story, education took place and countless lives were saved.

Ryan White Tribute Videos

What is AIDS like today?

AIDS in the Twenty-First Century, Fully Revised and Updated Edition: Disease and Globalization

by: Tony Barnett, Alan Whiteside

Amazon Price: $19.45 (as of 06/03/2012)

Do you remember Ryan White?

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kikema Aug 21, 2009 @ 5:18 pm | delete

its just so sad that ryan wayne white died from hiv/aids he was a great kid at hamilton heights high school if some kids dont like him just because he had hiv/aids well its very sad to see someone who suffers hiv/aids . And if you make fun of him remember that at any old age you will you will never know you will have hiv/aids so I suggest you to feel sorry about his mom because she lost her only son.

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kay Feb 12, 2009 @ 9:44 am | delete

hes a hero in my eyes

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Comfortdoc Jun 30, 2008 @ 3:31 pm | delete

Thank you for joining the HIV/AIDS Awareness Group. A lens on Ryan White will be a great addition.

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emerlad baxter Jan 24, 2008 @ 10:55 am | delete

I love the way that he took time out of his life to try to speak out to other people to try to help them understand AIDS but i think that he deserved a lot better than what he got in the eighteen years that he was in this world i think that it wasn;t fair how other people treated him when he was first diagnosed with AIDS i mean he probably felt bad when they wouldn't let him go back to school. I love how he tried to complete what he was aiming for but the only thing that he didn't complete is living longer than he did i love that about him.