Ryan White was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, born on Dec. 6, 1971. He would die on April 8, 1990. However, what this young man did with the time that was given him is something worth remembering.
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| Ryan White |
Ryan was a national poster child for HIV/AIDS throughout the United States. He had been diagnosed with AIDS after he failed being re-admitted to school. Unfortunately, Ryan, a hemophiliac, had been given a blood treatment tainted with HIV. When he was first diagnosed, in 1984, he was given six months to live. Well, Ryan out-lived that diagnosis by five years and died one month before his high-school graduation.
Ryan tried very hard to get re-admitted to Western School, located in Russiaville, Illinois, near his hometown of Kokomo. There was a lengthy appeal process for the school's decision, and the media coverage that ensued vaulted Ryan into the status of celebrity.
Following is death, the U.S. Congress enacted the Ryan White Care Act, which has been re-authorized twice. Under this act, the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS than under any other piece of legislation.
Ryan died in the Riley Hospital for Children, in Indianapolis, Indiana, after being admitted on March 29, 1990. More than 1,500 people attended his funeral on April 11 that year. In his remembrance of Ryan, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said, "We owe it to Ryan to make sure that the fear and ignorance that chased him from his home and school will be eliminated."
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