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My name is Will, I am a single man, 61 years
old and living on my own. It was the 1st October 2003 when I had
respiratory problems and heart failure. I had been admitted to the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was not very well at all. On top of all
this, the doctors told me that I was diagnosed hep C positive.  Well, this stunned me!
I had been feeling sick, with no energy, for five years or more and
getting worse by the month. The doctor who had been my G P for the last
decade, didn't have a clue as to what was wrong with me. He had failed
to diagnose that I had hep C, even though I had been complaining for
years that I was not well.
Over this time I had become a very heavy drinker. I was drinking a
bottle of whisky a day so that I could block out the pain and the
sickness that I felt, of an illness that I knew nothing about. I was
losing weight, my appetite had gone, I had no energy and I was
depressed. This was before going on any treatment. 
I was in denial about the depression, so I took myself off the
antidepressants. This was not good! Through information given to me at
the HCCSA I changed doctors to a hep C friendly doctor, one who knew
what he was doing.
I had more blood tests and found out that I was genotype 1. A
biopsy let me know that I had level 3 fibrosis. I was offered treatment
and not knowing much about side effects I jumped at the chance. I
wanted to get rid of this evil little virus!
Now I was looking at 48 weeks of treatment. I had no support
system set up and most of my friends had left me because of my anger,
my daily ill health and depression. I was no fun to be near  I was confused and couldn't understand why no one wanted anything to do with me.
I started combination treatment of Interferon and Ribavirin in the
first week of June 2004. Well the first week didn't seem to bad at all,
the second week I felt a little bit sick for a couple of days. The
third week, it hit me for six out of seven days  Bang! FLAT ON MY BACK! Couldn't eat, couldn't move, couldn't do a dam thing!
My body no longer felt like it was mine. It felt alien. Food didn't
taste the same, if I could eat at all. My ill-fitting false teeth were
rubbing on ulcerated gums and the treatment gave me a sore throat. I
was no longer able to look after myself.
It was the 1st of august - my birthday and I felt like a bomb had hit me! I thought I'd been given a death sentence. I was so scared.
Unfortunately throughout treatment I suffered a lot of side effects
- but the one that topped it all, was, and still is "The Depression"
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Just the same, with all that was happening I still managed to complete
the 48 weeks. At 24 weeks into treatment the virus was not detectable,
at 48 weeks it was not detectable. Great news it seemed that I had been
cured! 
Then when I had my last blood test at 74 weeks the virus had reappeared 
Well now I'm looking around to see if I can access treatment on
compassionate grounds. Just the same, I wouldn't mind being a part of
one of the new trials that come up from time to time!
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