Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The youth beg Congress to #SaveRyanWhitePartD!


Dear President Obama and Congressional People,

I don’t think that the government should cut off Ryan White Part D.  Even though I’m still a kid and may not understand everything about this, I know it’s not right.  Part D really helps people who have HIV and their families too.  I have learned a lot because of the programs under Part D and I don’t want this too all go away.  And I don’t want a bunch of people who work in Part D to lose their jobs either.  I want them to still be able to help me and help other people too. 

I don’t see why you guys want to cut this off and send us to another part of Ryan White that’s not even for us.  That will really confuse people and make them not even want to go to those places.  And how do you know that the people from the other part of Ryan White want to join hands and work with all the women and kids and young adults and stuff? That’s not fair to them to have to change what they’re good at when there’s already people who do that stuff.

Like right now, Part D is helping women all around.  Not trying to be mean, but just because girls and guys are equal doesn’t mean we are the same.  Plus, Part D has worked really hard to make sure that a lot of families keep the adults and kids safe.  Did you know that a lot of the kids are non HIV+ now?  And a lot of the parents are undetectable, like me?  That means they take their meds and they hardly have any HIV in their blood at all.  So they don’t make other people get HIV even though they are still positive.  Like when I have my kids, when I get older.  I bet they won’t have HIV, just me.

I don’t always feel like taking my meds, but I take them anyway.  My case manager is there for me.  For years, the other people in the Ryan White Part D programs supported me and they are there for me and my family.  I’ve watched some stuff and heard about stuff that makes me scared.  I’m a kid.  I know what we think and what’s going on.  You have no idea what problems might happen if we don’t have programs that are meant for young people, because we think different stuff and do different stuff.  We need our own attention.

Even if you are having some kind of problem, Part D shouldn’t be cut off.  That doesn’t mean you can fix stuff by putting us all in one group.  Keep us the way we are.  The only reason I know anything about being healthy with HIV is BECAUSE of Ryan White Part D.  If Ryan White Part D wasn’t there, me, my mom, and my whole family would just be lost.  I know what HIV meds do to me, what it affects me if I don’t take them, why I need to protect myself and other people and keep healthy.


I can’t do much, because I’m just a kid.  But you can do something.  We need to keep on having this. May 14, 2014  


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