Join Us for the 27th Annual Honolulu AIDS Walk
April 22, 2018 at Kapi'olani Park
A Benefit for the Hawai'i Health & Harm Reduction Center
Who was Ryan White?
Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS on December 17, 1984, when he was only 13 years old. He contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, which he regularly received because he was born with Hemophilia. At the time of his diagnosis, he was told he only had 6 months to live.
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Ryan’s condition slightly improved and he felt well enough to return to school. When he tried to return to school, he was barred and subjected to significant AIDS-related discrimination. He was often the subject of cruel treatment by his community and experienced overwhelming HIV stigma in many places he went. He recounted in front of congress instances where other students spraypainted his locker with obscenities and restaurant staff even threw away plates and cutlery he had used. With his mother, Jeanne White Ginder, Ryan fought for his right to go to school and garnered national attention for it. He was later welcomed to a school in another community where he made friends, continued his studies, and even went to prom.
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Surprising his doctors, Ryan lived five years longer than expected. He died in April 1990, one month before his high school graduation. Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act in August 1990.
