Financial hardships were rough on us, even though Mom had a good job at G.M.

Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 had AIDS.

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

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 never feel sorry for yourself.

Nature finds its peace in silence, forgiveness, and universal love.

My mother was a feminist and a divorcee who worked. She was very smart.

There is no satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding you've grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness.

The girl with a future avoids a man with a past.

Back down a country road the girls are always hot and the beer is ice cold.

I wish people didn't just think of me in the '60s. I'm not any era.

No one gets to their heaven without a fight...

Compliments win friends, honesty loses them.

My quarrel is not with the legitimate role of government but with the unlimited role of government.

He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich.