PRESIDENT OBAMA signs RYAN WHITE Care Act (Bill HR6143),

Twenty years ago on April 8, 1990, Ryan White died, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name.

WHO is RYAN WHITE?

Jeanne and Elton John beside Ryan White in his hospital bed in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis several days before Ryan’d death in April 1990. Jeanne had asked me not to photograph Ryan’s face because she did not want to remember his very swollen condition. Ryan is in a coma but Jeanne and Elton are speaking gently to him. Jeanne is reaching for Ryan’s hand. VOICES: Taro Yamasaki’s statement

Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Despite doctors having said he posed no risk to other students, AIDS was poorly understood at the time, and when White tried to return to school, many parents and teachers in Kokomo rallied against his attendance. A lengthy legal battle with the school system ensued, and media coverage of the case made White into a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and public education. He appeared frequently in the media with celebrities such as Elton John, Michael Jackson and Phil Donahue. Surprising his doctors, White lived five years longer than predicted and died in April 1990, one month prior to his high school graduation.

Before White, AIDS was a disease widely associated with the male homosexual community, because it was first diagnosed there. That perception shifted as White and other prominent HIV-infected people, such as Magic Johnson, the Ray brothers and Kimberly Bergalis, appeared in the media to advocate for more AIDS research and public education to address the epidemic.

The U.S. Congress passed a major piece of AIDS legislation, the Ryan White Care Act (Bill HR6143), shortly after White’s death.

The Act was reauthorized in 2006 and again on October 30, 2009; its Ryan White Programs are the largest provider of services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.

Dedicated to RYAN WHITE

Michael Jackson dedicates concert to RYAN WHITE

Listen: (http://hab.hrsa.gov/about/ryanwhite.htm ) to his mom Jeanne White Ginder recount those early days.

See also “A Living History“. http://hab.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/

MOER INFO: http://www.thebody.com/content/art39091.html

A Celebration of Women