Most recently my battle has been against AIDS and the discrimination surrounding it..

People would get up and leave so they would not have to sit anywhere near me..

A lot of my time was spent searching, thinking and planning my life..

On December 17, 1984, I had surgery to remove two inches of my left lung due to pneumonia. After two hours of surgery the doctors told my mother I ha….

This brought on the news media, TV crews, interviews, and numerous public appearances..

Entertainers, athletes, and stars started giving me support..

The school I was going to said they had no guidelines for a person with AIDS..

Twice a week I would receive injections or IV's of Factor VIII which clotted the blood and then broke it down..

My studies are important to me. I made the honor role just recently, with 2 A's and 2 B's..

I received thousands of letters of support from all around the world, all because I wanted to go to school..

How could these people in the public eye not be afraid of me, but my whole town was?.

I spent Christmas and the next thirty days in the hospital..

I came face to face with death at thirteen years old..

I was labeled a troublemaker, my mom an unfit mother, and I was not welcome anywhere..

AIDS can destroy a family if you let it, but luckily for my sister and me, Mom taught us to keep going. Don't give up, be proud of who you are, and n….

Listening to medical facts was not enough. People wanted one hundred percent guarantees..

I believe in myself as I look forward to graduating from Hamilton Heights High School in 1991..

My name is Ryan White. I am sixteen years old. I have hemophilia, and I have AIDS..

The first five to six years of my life were spent in and out of the hospital..

Mayor Koch, of New York, was the first public figure to give me support..

Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me..