Introducing Ryan White

Lifetime original movie "The Ryan White Story" is the true story of Ryan White, the Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS and fought for the right to attend school. Ryan White was born in Kokomo, Indiana on December 6, 1971 to Jeanne Hale White. When he was three years old, the doctor diagnosed him with Hemophilia A, a hereditary blood coagulation disorder. He received weekly transfusions of Factor VIII, a blood product used for treatment.

The movie follows Ryan, 13 years old, as a normal, healthy, and active teenage boy. He plays around with his friends. He likes a girl in his class. But soon, he starts couging, running a fever, and not feeling well. His mother, Jeanne takes his temperature and decides to take him to the hospital. He becomes ill with pneumonia. On December 17, 1984, during a partial-lung removal procedure, Ryan is diagnosed with AIDS. The doctors believe that he became infected from a contaminated blood treatment of Factor VIII but don't know exactly when. Ryan has to stay in the hospital until he feels better but the doctors only give him three to six months to live.

Early 1985, Ryan begins to feel better and wants to go back to school. Jeanne explains to him that school officials told her that he shouldn't come back to school. Ryan doesn't understand. He is able to do everything else but can't go to school. Jeanne and Ryan go to speak with a lawyer, Mr. Vaughn, who takes the case to help Ryan get back in school. Soon the parents of other children and the town are against Ryan coming back to school. They have close meetings and start signing petitions to argue his return. The lawyers are fighting hard to keep Ryan out of school. Through it all, Ryan is being so brave and Jeanne is trying to keep just as brave. His situation becomes national news.

It soon becomes a bad situation for Ryan. The press is always following him and standing in front of his house. Town people soon ignore and become rude towards Jeanne and her family. The girl that Ryan likes tells him that she can't see him anymore. He starts beoming weak and coughing up blood. He soons start being afraid that he will soon die. Ryan soon returns to the hospital to get better. In the movie, the real Ryan White makes a cameo appearance as another patient in the hospital.

In February of 1986, the court case wins for Ryan to go back to school but he was treated differently by the faculty and other children. Parents even kept their children home from school. Ryan had to use a separate bathroom from the other children. He had very few friends. All the cruel people made Ryan's 8th grade year unpleasant and he became very depressed.

After finishing the school year, Jeanne decides to move from Kokomo to Cicero, Indiana where Ryan would enroll to a whole new school where he will start his freshman year of high school. When he arrived at his new school, the principal and all the students greeted him and welcomed him with open arms.

Ryan White lived for five additional years, much longer than doctors predicted. On March 29, 1990, with a respiratory infection, Ryan was admitted into the hospital. He was placed on a ventilator but unfortunately, his condition was deteroirating. Sadly, Ryan passed away on April 8, 1990. His passing was one month before he was to graduate from high school.

Lizzy    =)