Ryan
White courageously fought AIDS-related
discrimination and helped educate
the Nation about HIV/AIDS.
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Ryan
White was an Indiana teenager with
hemophilia who contracted AIDS through
a blood transfusion. He courageously
fought AIDS-related discrimination
and helped educate the Nation about
his disease.
Ryan
White was diagnosed with AIDS at age
13. He and his mother Jeannie White
fought for his right to attend school,
gaining international attention. Ryan
was featured on countless television
shows and magazine covers and was
the subject of a television movie
about his life. Ryan White died on
April 8, 1990, at the age of 18, just
a few months before Congress passed
the AIDS bill that bears his name-the
Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS
Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation
has been reauthorized three times
since-in 1996, 2000, and most recently
in with the most recent 2006 enactment
renaming the program as the Ryan White
HIV/AIDS Program.
Ryan's
mother, Jeannie White-Ginder, continues
to speak out about HIV/AIDS stigma
and discrimination. She has been a
speaker at numerous event sponsored
by the Health Resources and Services
Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau for
programs funded to deliver Ryan White
services. Mrs. White-Ginder made the
following comments in her letter to
attendees at the 2006 Ryan White Grantee
Meeting and Clinical Update. She will
be a featured speaker in a special
workshop to be held at the 2008
Ryan White Grantee Meeting.
Jeanne White Ginder's Letter to Ryan White
HIV/AIDS Program Grantees
August
2006
Dear
Attendees,
I
love that this program is named
the Ryan White CARE Act and
that my son continues to have
an impact on helping people.
That makes me very proud. But
we run the risk of forgetting
those who got others to listen
and care about HIV/AIDS. And
so I want to say something about
them.
Over
20 years ago, I was a Christian
girl from a small town in Indiana
in search of information about
anything I could do to make
Ryan well. And I started meeting
people, mostly gay men, whom
I had never met before in my
life. Just like Ryan and me,
they were looking for answers
and dying. I met their mothers
and fathers and they were just
like me, hoping to save their
children. What we faced was
discrimination and fear and
panic. The sad part was trying
to get people to listen. But
we did.
Many
people made this program happen
to help people with HIV/AIDS
get care. They turned an idea
into a law through energy and
heartache. Most are no longer
here.
But
you are here and your work matters.
Thank you for the impact that
you make.
Sincerely,
Jeannie
White-Ginder
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