National AIDS activist makes stop at ECC

Recognizing how much progress has been made in recent years in the fight against AIDS, and at the same time realizing how much still needs to be accomplished, the Elgin community came together Tuesday morning to commemorate World AIDS Day.

A breakfast, held at Elgin Community College, was headlined by Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of AIDS victim Ryan White.

Ryan died of AIDS in April of 1990, 51/2 years after he was diagnosed with the disease. A hemophiliac whose blood was unable to clot on its own, Ryan contacted the virus through a contaminated blood treatment.

Ostracized from the Kokomo, Ind., community where he grew up, Ryan's fight against the disease - and for access to school - gained national attention in late 1980s.

"Losing a child is the worst pain you can experience," White-Ginder said. "It doesn't get any easier. You learn to live with it because you have to."

Since Ryan's death, White-Ginder has continued her son's work as an AIDS activist.

The Ryan White CARE Act, a federally funded program to help low-income people get medical treatment for HIV and AIDS, was enacted shortly after Ryan's death.

Facilitating the breakfast at ECC was David Roesler, executive director of the Open Door Clinic, which has locations in Aurora and Elgin.

Roesler reminded attendees that 40,000 people in the U.S. are HIV positive, about 400 of them live in the Elgin area.

"These days, you can still have a high quality of life with HIV," he said. "It's so important that people get tested."

At the end of the breakfast, several people received recognition for their work helping those affected by HIV and AIDS, including Ryan White.

For the first time, a square honoring Ryan was unveiled. It will be added to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which memorializes the lives lost to the disease.

Also receiving accolades were members of the Jersey Boys' cast, who have raised more than $1 million in the past 2½ years for research and treatment. Many of those funds have helped the Open Door Clinic.

After the show leaves Chicago in January, production and stage manager Larry Baker said, all of the show's office furniture and supplies will be donated to the clinic.