I remember sitting in the doctor's office, being told I had HCV.
The doctor wanted to know if I had participated in any risk behaviours?
Risk behaviours? He asked about IVDU. I remember staring
at him and shaking my head emphatically, "NO!" I had
had 2 transfusions when I was born so the matter was dropped.
As time went on I learned all about the risk behaviours. I had
multiple areas of risk-2 transfusions as a blue baby in Toronto's Children's Hospital, abdominal surgeries as an adult, body piercing ( ears around the kitchen
table with all the girlfriends), dental surgery, shared toothbrushes,
shared manicure equipment, multiple sex partners ( that's more
than 5 partners in your lifetime ), and when I was 17 years old
I experimented with IV drugs. It doesn't matter that it was only
for a couple of weeks. Once would have been enough. There
really is no escaping your past. And with everything I've
learned I can say with about a 99% certainty that I contracted
HCV through the IVDU. I got very sick with the hepatitis 2 weeks
after the drug use and had to be hospitalized. Of course in 1972
they didn't know about HCV yet. So I was sent home and that was
the end of that.
When I sat in my first HeCSC meeting in Vancouver, everyone focused
on how they got HCV. Most of the people in the room were victims
of blood transfusions. When it was my turn, I just didn't say
how I got it. I was too embarassed. Everyone assumed that I
gotten it from a transfusion too. I kept thinking to myself-I'm
not some drugged out addict- I'm not like that! But what if
I were? Would I deserve HCV then? Does anyone deserve
this disease? Where do we draw the lines? Between us and THEM?
We all have one thing in common. We all have HCV. I think somehow,
that we have to move past this issue of how we contracted HCV
and concentrate on what we can do about this disease. We have
to learn everything we can about HCV so that we can improve the
quality of our lives. We need to learn how to co-exist with it.
We can support our livers and learn to listen to our bodies.
Learn to recognize the signals that we need to rest. We need
to stop the transmission of HCV. And 70% of this disease is transmitted
through IVDU. What does that have to do with you? I could
have been YOUR daughter. I ran away with someone who was a heroin
addict. I didn't know it at the time. I had the sense to run
back home after two weeks but not before getting HCV. So it affects
all of us. Be careful where you draw the lines.
I am greatly saddened by the enormity of injustice that has been done against the victims of tainted blood transfusions. But I am no less a person because I contracted HCV through drug use. This life, my life, is all the good and the bad that I experienced. The total experience is what makes me who I am today. I will help anyone who is willing to help themselves. I work long and hard to help the transfused victims. I work long and hard to provide support and information to those that need it. Yes, I have HCV and it doesn't matter how I got it.
HepC BC 