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Ryan White

Ryan White
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grade 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.56

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    hemophilia, inpatient, stereotype, spokesperson, misunderstanding, testing, pneumonia, billion, clot, bullet, born, direct, condition, suffering, provides, disposable
     content words:    Ryan White, On December, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Elton John, Star Wars, Ryan White CARE Act

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Ryan White
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     Ryan White was born on December 6, 1971. He was born with a condition known as hemophilia. This condition means his blood didn't clot the way it was supposed to. As a result, he bled a lot.
 
2     To help Ryan's condition, he was given a special treatment. He received clotting agents made from other people's blood. He received these treatments two times a week.
 
3     Ryan later suffered from pneumonia. On December 17, 1984, he had surgery. When the doctors finished surgery, they had to break some bad news to his mother. Ryan had AIDS and probably only had six months to live. He had gotten the disease from the special blood products which were meant to help him.
 
4     Ryan wanted to live a normal life even with his condition. In 1985, he tried to return to his school in Kokomo, Indiana. The school and town tried to keep him out. They didn't understand HIV and AIDS.
 
5     HIV refers to Human Immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS refers to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV causes AIDS. AIDS is a life threatening disease that is a result of the virus attacking the immune system. HIV is contagious. However, you can not get HIV through casual contact. You must be in direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person. Many people in Kokomo, Indiana, didn't understand this.

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