John backs AIDS help
Elton John says he’s been sober for 20 years, since shortly after the death of an Indiana teen with AIDS who he says inspired him to turn his life around.
Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, about five years after contracting HIV through a tainted blood transfusion to treat his hemophilia.
John befriended the boy during his public battle for acceptance after he was banned from a central Indiana school, bringing national attention to the plight of children with HIV in the 1980s.
He was at the hospital when White died and was a pallbearer and performed at the funeral.
“It was one of the greatest things in my life to meet Ryan’s family, to be there the last week to try and help, and then for that wonderful message that he gave me to change my life around,” says John, who was in Indianapolis on Wednesday to headline a benefit celebrating White’s legacy.
“It was weird to take stock and think of it – I’m 20 years sober this year, and it’s 20 years since Ryan died, because I got sober shortly afterward.”
Proceeds from Wednesday’s event, hosted by Phil Donahue, benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Indianapolis Children’s Museum’s “Power of Children” exhibit, which features White.
John established the foundation two years after White’s death. It funds innovative HIV prevention and education programs, works to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and provides direct care and support services for patients.
The 20-year anniversary of White’s death is an opportunity to restart a dialogue about AIDS and educate children about the disease, John says.
“Children are smart. Children will listen,” he says. “You don’t have to threaten children, you just have to inform them.
“It took a child to die to make people sit up and notice.”
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