Friday, January 22, 2021

The Ryan White Story by Ryan White

I, like Jayme, have not had a 5-star read yet in 2021. So I will also be sharing one of my favorite books. This book is actually the book that kickstarted my love of reading when I was in late junior high/early high school. I can't remember the exact timing of the first time reading it, but I do remember my Mom dropping it in my lap and telling me she got it for me at a garage sale. 


Title: Ryan White: My Own Story by Ryan White and Ann Marie Cunningham
Published: August 4th 1992

It's easy to say Ryan was the poster boy for AIDS in the late 1980s up through and after his death in 1990 and leave it at that. 

This book dives deep into how Ryan was a normal Indiana teen in the mid-1980s, well as normal as you can be with a blood condition that doesn't allow it to clot, but it was manageable. 

Then after a series of different ailments and diagnoses, Ryan became one of the first teenage children to be diagnosed with AIDS due to a bad batch or batches of his blood Factor that helped control his hemophilia. 

Ryan shares about the difficult emotional and legal battle of being able to return to school and finally finding his place in a new town who accepted his family with open arms. 

Its hard for me to pinpoint exactly what made me love this book so much the first time I picked it up, but I just finished re-reading it again for probably close to the 10th time and I still cried. 

It's a book that reminds me that we may not understand the exact struggle someone is going through and even if we do, it's always best to be kinder than necessary. 

After my latest re-read, I found a "coffee table" type book called The Quiet Hero that was put together about Ryan with pictures of him throughout his life with friends and family. I also discovered his Mom, Jeanne White's book Weeding Out The Tears as well. I would definitely recommend checking that one out, it was also very good. 



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