Name Chris Oyler Role Author | Books Go Toward the Light | |
 | ||
Gordie Howe International Bridge Early Works Surveying
Chris Oyler is an American author, AIDS survivor and activist.
The elder three of Oyler's four sons were born with hemophilia. Her eldest son, Ben Oyler (June 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 fourteen months after his AIDS diagnosis.
Ben Oyler was barred, like Ryan White, from attending classes at school although Oyler and her husband Grant declined to contest that ruling, preferring to preserve the family's privacy.
Chris Oyler described the family's experience of her son's illness and death under the title Go Toward the Light, which was the basis for the 1988 made-for-television movie of the same name, with Linda Hamilton as a similarly situated mother. The film also includes how her faith as a Mormon helped her through this time.