Posted on 04/09/2020 3:08:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In 1984, a teenager took the lead — educating a frightened world about a deadly disease. Kokomo-native Ryan White was just 13 years old when he contracted AIDS through a tainted blood product used to treat his hemophilia.
Thirty years later, the world is facing another disease that is claiming lives, COVID-19. Following his diagnosis, White was banned from attending his high school classes. Not attending school was not White’s choice; he simply wanted to be with friends and learn during a time when panic and fear gripped the nation.
advertisement So, White’s family pursued his right to attend school through legal channels. As his physical battle to fight the disease and the legal battle wore on, the White family moved to Cicero, Indiana, where White was welcomed into Hamilton Heights High School. There, he made several new friends and earned his high school diploma. White died on April 8, 1990, at the age of 18.
White's mother said things aren’t so different these days when it comes to disease.
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“There are a lot of similarities today with COVID-19 with how people are scared, and everyone has an opinion on how you get the disease and how you don’t. It’s extremely important to pay attention to the medical evidence and listen to medical experts and let them be the ones who guide us, not rumor,” said Jeanne White Ginder. “We have a chance to do something right now to save lives, and that’s to stay home.”
White Ginder went on to talk about how she still misses her son every day but is glad he made a huge difference in the world through the Ryan White Care Act, which provides a comprehensive system of HIV primary medical care, essential support services, and medications for people living with HIV to improve health outcomes and reduce HIV transmission among hard-to-reach populations. White Ginder has one regret.
|We’ve not done our job by making the disease real to people. That was a big thing Ryan did. He made the disease real and it helped change lives," she said. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis acquired all of the artifacts from White's teenage bedroom from his White Ginder. Under her watchful eye, the museum recreated White's bedroom, which is part of the museum’s Power of Children permanent exhibit. Some of White's happiest memories took place in that home, said his mother, especially in his room filled with toy collections, posters, and other memorabilia.
The museum is temporarily closed due to social gathering restrictions resulting from COVID-19, but children and families can learn more about White through a series of new blogs that can be found on The Children’s Museum website.
When things return to normal, after the coronavirus pandemic, White Ginder plans to continue visiting White's room at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis several times a year to share memories and stories about White's journey.
30 Years have passed!!!! OUCH!!!!
And now, 30 years later, they are re-introducing tainted blood.
I remember watching the movie. Poor kid. Went through hell.
What about that baby trapped down a well? Has it been thirty years yet on that episode?
Of course it's not always self inflicted...Ryan White did nothing to deserve his fate.
I had a friend in that era with hemophilia who also died of AIDS - as did most hemophiliacs. A little more background would have added important details. It wasn’t so much tainted blood as it was the method for processing it. Hemophiliacs were administered a clotting agent derived from donated blood. It allowed them to lead a somewhat normal life. However, this was processed by combining the agent from the blood of thousands of donors, all processed together. If any one of the donors had AIDS, all of the hemophiliacs given the combined agent would acquire the disease.
To me, this is an important part of the story that was omitted.
True.
It doesn’t seem like 30 years. Poor child.
33 years. My wife and I were married that year.
Stopped reading at that point.
The show started out with the teenager being a hemophiliac receiving tainted blood and bullied at school because they thought he was gay. But, the writers couldn't help themselves and they made the kid's character a fag.
Hmm, why did they make a 13-year old hemophiliac the face of AIDS rather than some guy from the bathhouse? Seems like the latter would have been more representative.
And to his mom, it’s great to say we need to listen to the experts, but I’m sure there were experts back in the day saying it was fine for your son to receive the blood that gave him AIDS.
Kokomo-native Ryan White was just 13 years old when he contracted AIDS through a tainted blood product used to treat his hemophilia
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