Campus News
April 8th, 2025
Ripley energetically 'figuring life out'
Maryland author, JCLS presenter triumphing over hemophilia, HIV
Vaughn Ripley "had this life thing figured out" on several different occasions.
After learning to live with hemophilia – but before encountering school-age bullies.
After learning to dealing with bullies – but before being diagnosed with HIV.
And then, finally, after learning to deal with HIV, leading to 38 years – and counting – of surviving with what used to be considered a death sentence.
That's not to say it was a quick, linear journey from one revelation to another. Ripley – whose Joan Crawford Lecture Series presentation took place last Monday night in the Performing Arts Center at Garrett College – said some setbacks took longer to process than others.
"Our family physician called us in and told us [in 1986] I had contracted Hepatitis C and HIV from contaminated blood products," recalled the 58-year-old Ripley. "He told me I had less than two years to live. I completely collapsed and went into a dark place.
"I'm ashamed to say I started drinking and doing drugs and even had thoughts of suicide," Ripley said. "I had no way to cope with this. The stigma with HIV was so bad. We had death threats. . . . They wanted us out of town."
Ripley said things began to turn around when "two years came and went – and I didn't die."
"The question I had for myself was, 'If the doctor was wrong, if you're not dying, is this the way you want to live your life?' And the answer was no. I stopped the dire path I was on and I turned myself around."
Ripley said he didn't turn his path around by himself. Then-girlfriend and now-wife Kristine, his mother and other family members, his doctors, and his friends all played huge roles in his comeback.
"I call it the 'survival pie.' You need a whole bunch of pieces of the pie – positive people, fitness, nutrition – and you can pretty much get past anything."
Ripley indicated it's nearly impossible to overestimate the value of fitness regardless of the individual challenges being faced.
"Fitness is probably the most important factor for me," said Ripley. "It helped with my mental health and, foundationally, it gives me a structure. A lot of my bleeds I've avoided in my older age is because of my fitness."
Ripley said the changes implemented in a person's life don't have to be dramatic in order to be consequential. He recommended "small, incremental improvements on a daily basis."
It also doesn't hurt, he said, to be something of a rebel.
"I don't think that's such a bad thing," said Ripley, who had to constantly go against conventional wisdom to become – among other things – a marathon runner, mountain climber, and skateboarder despite being a hemophiliac.
And Ripley continues to challenge himself.
"I just got a ham radio license," he reported. "It's just a new thing I want to do."
Notes: Ripley, who lives in Maryland with his wife and son, was born with hemophilia in 1967. Ripley chronicled his life story in Survivor: One Man's Battle with HIV, Hemophilia, and Hepatitis C (2010).
The Joan Crawford Lecture Series honors dynamic educator Joan R. Crawford, who died in 2010 after serving the Garrett College community for 30 years in a variety of faculty and staff roles.
For more information, contact Stephanie Miller at stephanie.miller@garrettcollege.edu.
