Christine Oyler is an American author,

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

survivor and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. The elder three of Oyler's four sons were born with

hemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...

. Her eldest son, Ben Oyler (June 28, 1977 - July 4, 1986) and her brother Scott (died July 5, 1987), who was also a hemophiliac, died of AIDS when they were transfused with clotting factor, vital for treating their condition, that was tainted. Ben was nine years old when he died, approximately 14 months after his AIDS diagnosis. Ben Oyler was barred, like

Ryan White Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnos ...

, from attending classes at school although Oyler and her husband Grant declined to contest that ruling, preferring to preserve the family's privacy. Oyler described the family's experience of her son's illness and death under the title ''

Go Toward the Light ''Go Toward the Light'' is a 1988 television film starring Linda Hamilton, Joshua Harris and Richard Thomas. The film first aired on CBS on November 1, 1988. Plot A young couple face the realities of life with their hemophiliac child who is di ...

'', which was the basis for the 1988 made-for-television movie of the same name, with

Linda Hamilton Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. She played Sarah Connor in the '' Terminator'' film series and Catherine Chandler in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–1990), for which she was nomina ...

as a similarly situated mother. The book also includes how her faith as a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

helped her through this time.LDSfilm.com
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oyler, Chris HIV/AIDS activists American Latter Day Saints Living people 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers 1956 births

See also

References

External links