Cancer, stroke, hepatitis—all words we once feared. But thanks to great medical advances, there are now…
Hepatitis C
Approximately 14 million Europeans are infected.
THE GOOD NEWS
Now there is a cure.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In 2013 a new class of anti-viral drugs became available.
IT WAS THE EARLY 1990S, and Leigh-Anne Maxwell had no idea why, for years, she’d felt so awful; neither did her doctors. They’d tested for mononucleosis, anemia, and other obvious causes. Nothing. She was exhausted. She was nauseated. Active for most of her life, the 62-year-old enjoyed exploring the woods on Mayne Island in British Columbia, where she lives.
No one connected her symptoms to the emergency surgery she’d undergone years before. It wasn’t until she tried giving blood that she finally got a diagnosis. The Red Cross had begun testing donors for the hepatitis C virus in 1990 and notified her she could no longer be a donor. She was infected.
Because hepatitis C is transmitted by blood, she knew immediately that the transfusion that had saved her life had infected her.
This story is from the June 2018 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
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This story is from the June 2018 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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