The Ryan White Story

As a Hemophiliac who contracted HIV... Ryan White Story,The was important and made survival seem like an option. so here i am today a disease inside of me that has lived longer than my girlfriend and I'm 23. and that's how i told her. It's not at the caliber of "And the Band Played" on, but jeez it's better than most network movies... I was relatively lucky to be a little bit younger... I was only exploited and shunned by a few... but the fight of irish blood and a good survival-istic sense of humor. And Ryan White is in it...

Ryan White was an absolutely amazing boy. It's incredible that for such a young kid to be hit with everything he was, that he could so many wonderful things and touch the hearts of so many people. This movie tells the story of Ryan first contracting AIDS and what the city of Kokomo, Indiana put him through when he attempted to return to school. Thankfully he was able to escape most of the prejudice and live out the remainder of his life surrounded by people who loved him and cared about him. He was my hero. I named my son after him. If you don't know who he is, I highly recommend watching this movie.

This is the story of the late Ryan White & his family. After contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion, he's refused the chance to return to school (in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana) after he becomes well from an opportunistic infection. Since it's the early 1980's not much is really known about HIV, so ignorance is rampant in this hick/redneck town & people make their lives miserable. Judith Light is excellent as Jeanne White, Ryan's mom. Fighting along with her son for his right to an education. The expression on her face as she watches the welcome reception he receives, at a new school after they move to a different town, conveys the happiness only a mom could feel for her child.

I had to watch The Ryan White Story in health class this week. It has movie of the week written all over it. The movie does not get into any medical or scientific discussion of AIDS and I don't expect it to. Its not a movie I would choose to show in health class, but as any student at Grant High School would know, ANYTHING is better than listening to a certain health teacher (I won't say his name) talk. The Ryan White Story is also not the worst movie Mr. Jacobs showed in his class (oops!).

Because I lived during the era when HIV/AIDS was a HUGE worry, I remember pretty clearly the sad case of Ryan White. The boy contracted AIDS as a result of his treatments for Hemophilia...and folks in his community were so scared of the illness. After all, not a lot was known about the illness at that time. The school board responded by expelling Ryan...and the boy was the center of a media frenzy. It was a sad story...especially when so much of the rhetoric surrounding this was hateful by the folks in his community and the White family was treated abominably. Because of this, I basically spent much of the film in tears...and I think this is going to be the case with most viewers. It's a sad, awful story...no matter how it's told. This film is a made for TV movie that came out a year before Ryan's death.

So is the story well done? Yes. I am not sure how much they changed facts to make the story more cinematic...but it is very effective in presenting the story. Well acted as well...and well worth seeing.