Ryan White

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Ryan White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was a person with AIDS from Kokomo, Indiana, USA. In the 1980s, he drew national and worldwide attention due to his infection. It has been speculated that the reason White got so much attention was that he was a heterosexual white middle-class boy, as opposed to gay men and intravenous drug users who were normally associated with the disease.

Ryan became infected with HIV from a blood product, known as Factor VIII, as part of his treatment for hemophilia. He was diagnosed with AIDS on December 17, 1984 by a doctor performing a partial lung removal as treatment for pneumonia. As a result, he was expelled from his school, Western School Corporation, because of the supposed health risk to other students. His situation became a controversial case in North America with AIDS activists lobbying to have him reinstated while attempting to explain to the public that AIDS cannot be transmitted by casual contact, but rather only by blood and sexual contact. Ryan won the case but because of the threat of violence in Kokomo towards the family he eventually transferred to Hamilton Heights School Corporation, in neighboring Cicero, Indiana, where Michael Jackson purchased a home for Ryan and his family. Ryan was received as a celebrity by faculty and students of Hamilton Heights who were fully educated into the nature of HIV. According to Wanda Kline, Hamilton Heights High School Business Department Chair, Ryan was a great student with an exceptional work ethic and perseverance. Wanda commented that he was well-received and respected by his fellow students because of his admirable traits. In the final years of Ryan's life, he was a resident of Cicero, living with his mother, Jeanne- employed at one time at GM and now his spokesperson for his cause, and sister, Andrea, who was an accomplished skater at the national level. He had a stepfather, Steve Ford. His biological father, Wayne White, did not live with them at the time he entered into the national scene- as a reluctant, astute, but tireless and fierce advocate for those suffering from the onslaught of the HIV virus. He developed a close relationship with his personal physician, Dr. Martin Kleiman, now the Ryan White Professor of AIDS Medicine at Indiana University-Purdue University Medical School in Indianapolis. He participated in several yearly benefits for children with AIDS and several benefits for sports figures and in Hollywood. He befriended John Cougar Mellencamp, Sir Elton John, Michael Jackson, Linda Otto, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Phil Donahue, Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He also was a friend to many other children and others who either had AIDS or other potentially debilitating conditions. He disliked the spotlight on him and his family to a degree, loathed remarks that seemingly blamed his mother or his upbringing for his illness, and emphasized that he would trade his fame at any moment if he could be free of the burden of the disease.

Before he died of pneumonia caused by his illness in April 1990, he worked to educate people on the nature of HIV and AIDS, to show that it was not a "gay disease" and that, with a few precautions, it was safe to associate with people who were HIV-positive. Being outside the stigmatized "normal" groups allowed him to become a poster boy for HIV infection in North America. Upon his death, his funeral was a standing-room-only event held at the Second Presbyterian Church on Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. Services and burial by the Reverend Ray Probasco were attended by many celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Phil Donahue, Judith Light, and Elton John. They were the largest Indiana had ever seen. Elton John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral and trained the Hamilton Heights High School choir to sing at Ryan's funeral, according to Chris Noble, Hamilton Heights High School Fine Arts Department Head. Ryan is buried in Cicero, close to the home of his mother, Jeanne.

In 1990, Congress enacted The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act or Ryan White Care Act, the United States' largest federally funded program (excluding Medicaid and Medicare) for the care of those living with HIV and AIDS. The program has been continuously funded since it began and in 2005 is expected to total approximately $2.2 billion dollars per year. Updated figures suggest a higher total, approximately $2.5 billion in 2006. The Ryan White CARE Act provides medical and psychosocial services to those living with HIV/AIDS. According to Karen Blake, town of Cicero manager, there is an annual AIDS walk in his home town of Cicero to benefit his AIDS foundation.

Michael Jackson, who was a close friend of Ryan's, dedicated the song "Gone Too Soon" from his Dangerous album to Ryan. 80's pop star Tiffany dedicated the song "Here in My Heart" to Ryan White on her "New Inside" album (1990) and wrote in the booklet: "I just hope that God has plans to bless the world with more people like Ryan White."