And his mother is fighting for congressional funding that was promised but never fully delivered. Fla. The family moved to Stapleton, Ala., in April to be near family. He was admitted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center with pneumonia, then nosebleeds that wouldn' t stop, a condition prompted by his AIDS, his AIDS medications and his hemophilia, said one of his physicians there, Dr. Keith Ramsey. Hemophilia is a hereditary disease that keeps blood from clotting properly. After being stabilized, Ray returned to a St. Petersburg, Fla., hospital to be treated by the physician who has cared for him since he was a child.
Platelet cells contribute to clotting.
All three, like an estimated 7,500 other hemophilia sufferers in the United States, are believed to have contracted the HIV virus from tainted blood products that were supposed to keep them alive. The blood products allow hemophiliacs' blood to clot when they cut themselves. But the clotting factor, produced from donated blood in the days before the nation's blood supply was screened for the AIDS virus, also robbed Ricky of his life at the age of 15. Before he died, Ricky helped change the way the public, the government and health professionals think about AIDS, say those who know the family. After Ricky's death, Robert picked up where his brother left off, giving interviews to the news media while trying to live something of a normal life.