Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon 

This song exists since around 1983. But Jackson's version is for Ryan White. Well, I'm not gonna write a lot, just my thoughts at the end. The most is written in Wikipedia. 

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Ryan White

"Ryan White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after being expelled from school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed in 1984, was given six months to live. Though doctors said he posed no risk to other students, AIDS was poorly understood at the time, and when White tried to return to school, many parents and teachers in Kokomo rallied against his attendance. A lengthy legal battle with the school system ensued, and media coverage of the struggle made White into a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and public education. 

During this time, White was befriended by singer Michael Jackson. White's mother Jeanne commented on the friendship, "It's a really good relationship. They have a good time. [Michael Jackson] treats [Ryan White] like he's not sick. And Ryan treats Michael like he's not a celebrity." The pop star bought the teenager a red Ford Mustang, and invited White and his mother to spend time at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. Surprising his doctors, White lived five years longer than initially predicted and died in April 1990, shortly before he would have completed high school.

The means of transmission of HIV had not yet been fully understood by the mid- to late 1980s. Scientists knew it spread via blood and was not transmittable by any sort of casual contact, but as recently as 1983, the American Medical Association had thought that "Evidence Suggests Household Contact May Transmit AIDS", and the belief that the disease could easily spread persisted. Children with AIDS were still rare; at the time of White's rejection from school, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knew of only 148 cases of pediatric AIDS in the United States. Many families in Kokomo believed his presence posed an unacceptable risk. When White was permitted to return to school for one day in February 1986, 151 of 360 students stayed home. He also worked as a paperboy, and many of the people on his route canceled their subscriptions, believing that HIV could be transmitted through newsprint. 

The Indiana state health commissioner, Dr. Woodrow Myers, who had extensive experience treating AIDS patients in San Francisco, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both notified the board that White posed no risk to other students, but the school board and many parents ignored their statements. In February 1986, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study of 101 people who had spent three months living in close but non-sexual contact with people with AIDS. The study concluded that the risk of infection was "minimal to nonexistent," even when contact included sharing toothbrushes, razors, clothing, combs and drinking glasses; sleeping in the same bed; and hugging and kissing.

When White was finally readmitted in April, a group of families withdrew their children and started an alternative school. Threats of violence and lawsuits persisted. According to White's mother, people on the street would often yell, "we know you're queer" at Ryan. The editors and publishers of the Kokomo Tribune, which supported White both editorially and financially, were also ridiculed by members of the community and threatened with death for their actions. 

White attended Western Middle School for eighth grade for the entire 1986–87 school year, but was deeply unhappy and had few friends. The school required him to eat with disposable utensils, use separate bathrooms, and waived his requirement to enroll in a gym class. Threats continued. When a bullet was fired through the White's living room window (no one was home at the time), the family decided to leave Kokomo. After finishing the school year, his family moved to Cicero, Indiana, where he enrolled at Hamilton Heights High School, in Arcadia, Indiana. On August 31, 1987, a "very nervous" White was greeted by school principal Tony Cook, school system superintendent Bob G. Carnal, and a handful of students who had been educated about AIDS and were unafraid to shake Ryan's hand.

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Eve van Grafhorst

And now about some other kid. Girl from Australia. "Eve van Grafhorst (17 July 1982 – 20 November 1993) was one of the first Australian children to be infected with HIV, via a blood transfusion. She became the centre of a storm of controversy in 1985 when she was banned from her local pre-school amid fears she might infect other children. Van Grafhorst was born prematurely in 1982, and required eleven blood transfusions to save her life. One of the transfusions was contaminated, and van Grafhorst contracted HIV.

Van Grafhorst's parents enrolled her in a Kincumber, New South Wales pre-school in February 1985, but she bit another child. The state medical officer for New South Wales said she should be barred from daycare until she was older, and after her condition became known, parents of other preschoolers threatened to withdraw their children if she was re-enrolled, saying that young Eve posed a grave threat of infection. She was eventually permitted to attend school, provided she wore a plastic face-mask at all times; some parents suggested that this was not sufficient, and that the van Grafhorsts should leave town. 

The van Grafhorsts did indeed leave town, moving to Hastings, New Zealand in 1986. In contrast to their Australian experience, the van Grafhorst family was welcomed; Eve lived a relatively normal life and attended a local school without incident.
Eve died at home in 1993, aged 11.

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All that reminds me Poland in the 90's. I remember the same fear and hate (caused by fear) against Marek Kotanski and his efforts to give people with HIV and AIDS shelter and some love. He wasn't afraid of them, he knew that he's safe. But people around spread rumours that mosquitos can transmit HIV. But, these days we can see hate towards homosexuals or any other "unknown". And general thought, very common and known: we are afraid of what we don't know, what we don't understand.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_van_Grafhorst

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Too_Soon