In May 1993, Jeanne White travelled to Israel to plant a single pine tree in her son Ryan White's memory, becoming part of a larger memorial forest for people who had died from AIDS. Ryan had haemophilia and contracted HIV through contaminated blood-clotting treatment. He died from AIDS-related complications in April 1990 at the age of 18. Three years later, his mother planted the first tree in an AIDS memorial forest in Israel's northern Negev. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's report on the ceremony , Jeanne hoped the forest would give families and friends of people who had died from AIDS a place to express their grief while creating something living in their memory.
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