Ryan White was a teenager from Indiana who became a national poster boy for AIDS and HIv campaigns across the country when he was diagnosed. As the disease wasn’t really understood at that time (during the 80s), it was really only associated with homosexual men who were known to contract the disease. However, Ryan was a haemophiliac and contracted the disease in 1984 from a contaminated blood treatment.
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Ryan was expelled from his school for having his disease and everyone was scared that they would contract it, and in doing so, the media became involved which shot Ryan to fame. During his short lifetime he was able to spread awareness for the disease and helped people to understand that it wasn’t only contracted through sexual relations.
He was given an estimation of having six months to live from his initial diagnosis but he lived for five years and campaigned to raise awareness. He died a month before his high school graduation.