Ryan White: My Own Story - Hardcover

White, Ryan; Cunningham, Ann Marie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803709773 ISBN 13: 9780803709775

Publisher: Dial, 1991

Synopsis

Ryan White describes how he got AIDS, engaged in a legal battle to return to school, and became a celebrity and spokesman for issues concerning the deadly disease.

About this title

About the Author:

Ryan White (1971–1990) was a courageous young man whose autobiography, Ryan White: My Own Story, recounts his HIV/AIDS diagnosis at age 13 and his fight against AIDS-related discrimination in his Indiana community. White and his mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, gained national attention and became the face of public education about HIV/AIDS when they rallied for his right to attend school. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is the biggest federal program dedicated explicitly to providing HIV treatment and care services to people with HIV/AIDS. 

Ann Marie Cunningham is the co-author of the bestseller, Ryan White: My Own Story, about the Indiana teen with AIDS who was barred from school, sued for the right to return, and won. Cunningham is a veteran science writer and producer. She is a regular correspondent for Women’s eNews and producer of the Long Island Sound Science Festival. She is based in New York.

Jeanne White-Ginder is the mother of Ryan White, a courageous young man whose autobiography, Ryan White: My Own Story, recounts his HIV/AIDS diagnosis at age 13 and his fight against AIDS-related discrimination in his Indiana community. She catapulted from obscurity to being a media regular when Ryan was not allowed to return to school in their Indiana town. After her son's death, she continued her son’s legacy of education and empathy by working on getting his book—written by him for other children—published. She wrote the afterword for the book and later had a bill passed that called for federal funding of AIDS education, research, and medical care in her son’s name.

From Publishers Weekly:

Although Ryan White was born with hemophilia, the boy and his family were determined that he live as normal a life as possible. But, given contaminated blood in a transfusion, Ryan contracted AIDS. Most Americans are familiar with the ensuing headline-making facts: his school barred his attendance, neighbors and former friends shunned him and his family. Moving from Kokomo, Ind., to friendlier Cicero, Ryan struggled for the right to be educated and treated like any other kid even as he fought a daily battle against AIDS and hemophilia. Until his death in April 1990, Ryan was an eloquent spokesperson for all AIDS patients. This understated, affecting first-person account is no mere saccharine tearjerker about a "victim." Early on, Ryan resolved to be the "first kid with AIDS to speak out, fight back--and win." Hearing Ryan's often strong, sometimes hurting, always faith-filled voice in these pages, readers will know that his hopeful, heroic spirit did ultimately triumph. Illustrated with photographs, the work includes an epilogue on Ryan's final illness and funeral, tributes from friends Elton John and Michael Jackson, Ryan's testimony before the President's Commission on AIDS, answers to frequently asked questions and a final section on AIDS information resources. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0803709773
• ISBN 13: 9780803709775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112