1. Marianne Faithful

Faithfull became a household name in the 1960s

Singer Marianne Faithfull has revealed she was diagnosed with the hepatitis C virus in the 1990s.

Faithfull, 60, let slip that she had the virus while discussing her recent treatment for breast cancer on ITV1's This Morning programme.

"I found out about 12 years ago," she told host Phillip Schofield, adding she had received treatment at the time.

Hepatitis C is a virus carried in the blood that, if left untreated, can cause fatal liver problems.

There is currently no vaccine for the virus, which is has sometimes been called the silent epidemic.

'Incredibly lucky'

Faithfull, a former heroin addict, made no link between her reckless youth and her having the virus.

However, she admitted she had taken "a lot of risks". "I was incredibly lucky," she said. "I shouldn't be alive, I know that."

"Life has become much more precious to me and my health has become much more precious to me."

Hepatitis C is usually transmitted through blood-to-blood contact and can lay dormant for years.

In an interview given two months before her death, Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick revealed she had been infected from a blood transfusion in 1971.

The gravelly-voiced Faithfull first found fame in the 1960s as the muse of Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7039935.stm

2. Naomi Judd

Naomi Judd helps heal people with hepatitis C

		Judd: "My hepatitis C diagnosis was a personal ground zero — a life-altering experience."

"I owe her a big thank you, and I hope that I get to do that in person soon," says Spears, whose husband has played bass for Willie Nelson for 35 years. "I knew that Naomi had been successfully treated, and through a mutual friend Naomi got me the referral to the St. Louis University Liver Center. If Naomi had not been very public with her recovery from hepatitis C, I would never have known where to look for help, and I probably would not be cured."

Judd, who is also cured of her HCV, is humbled by Spears' gratitude.

"My hepatitis C diagnosis was a personal ground zero — a life-altering experience," said Judd of the 1990 pronouncement. "From that moment on, my life did a 180. But I was also deeply committed to getting well. As they say, 'Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.' Not only am I now free of this hideous virus that could have taken my life, but I can also be a beacon of hope for others."

To help offer more hope to people suffering from liver disease, Judd and Spears will be attending the Denim & Diamonds gala benefit on Sept. 13 to raise funds for the Liver Center's work and research. Both women look forward to again seeing the architect of their cures, Bruce Bacon.

"Dr. Bruce and his team at St. Louis are compassionate healers on the cutting edge of medicine," Judd says. "To have a resource like them to tell people to go consult is a gift."

It's a gift that is desperately needed.

Hepatitis is a generic term that refers to inflammation of the liver. HCV is the most common chronic blood-transmitted infection in the United States. According to the American Liver Foundation, approximately 4 million Americans have been infected with HCV. Up to 85% of those infected with HCV will develop chronic infection. From 8,000 to 10,000 people die annually because of chronic liver disease caused by HCV.

Perhaps more daunting is the fact that as many as 70% of infected Americans have no idea that they carry the virus.

HCV basics

HCV is typically transmitted through direct blood to blood contact and infects the liver, causing inflammation and damage to the liver tissue. While a diagnostic HCV antibody test was invented in 1989, there is still no vaccine to prevent HCV infection.

"I don't think people appreciate that this virus is projected to kill four times as many Americans as AIDS," Judd notes. "It is epidemic."

"Education is the most important strategy for people," explains Bacon, who is a professor of internal medicine and director of gastroenterology and hepatology at St. Louis University School of Medicine. "If you have any of the risk factors, then get tested. If you have been infected, then get to a specialist who is knowledgeable about evaluation and treatment of patients with hepatitis C. There is a lot of misinformation out there about hepatitis C, and you have to get past it."

Risk factors include:

• Blood transfusion prior to 1992

• IV drug use

• Snorted cocaine or other drugs using a shared straw or bill

• Hemodialysis

• Tattoo or body piercing

• Shared razor or other personal items that could carry HCV

• Exposure to blood in the workplace or military

"There is a less than 3% chance that the virus can be transmitted through sexual intercourse," Bacon explains. "CDC doesn't make any recommendations to couples in a stable relationship to do anything differently than they did before – meaning condom use."

"I worked as an ICU nurse and I received a needle stick," Judd says. "That is how I was infected. I think 80,000 health care workers are exposed to contamination on the job that's why I did a public service announcement to promote retractable needles so this transmission avenue can be eliminated or at least reduced."

Since Spears was not a habitual drug user, Bacon calls her infection a 'transient indiscretion of youth.'

"I was 18 years old and moved to San Francisco in the late '60s, and my ex-husband was 10 years my senior and convinced me and my very dear friend that we should try intravenous drugs with him for her 19th birthday," Spears admits. "I'm not proud of it, but that's how I got it. Turns out I had had hepatitis C for 34 years and did not know it."

Breakthrough treatment

Often called a "silent" disease because symptoms are either non-existent or so non-specific, as in the case of fatigue, HCV frequently gets attributed to other ailments or even simply getting older.

"I was symptomatic," Judd recalls. "I had malaise and lethargy, which means I was sick as a dog and tired."

Spears was so tired and fatigued that she couldn't even drag herself to a doctor initially. And like Judd, Spears had difficulty finding a doctor well versed in HCV. Judd says it was through doing the American Liver Foundation PSAs that she learned of Bacon.

Though they were treated years apart, the first thing Bacon did was confirm each woman's HCV diagnosis and then ordered liver biopsies to determine the extent of the HCV infection and liver damage.

Then each began treatment.

"When Naomi was treated seven or eight years ago, we only had about a 15% chance of cure," Bacon says. "Fortunately, Naomi had a genotype or strain of the virus that was more successfully treated. Julia had a tougher one to treat, but we have better medicine now for her."

Judd received standard interferon that was given three times a week for a year. Last February Julia began a 48-week regimen of pegylated interferon – or longer acting interferon — that is given once a week by injection plus an oral medication ribavirin. This combination is effective in curing people of HCV about 55% to 60% of the time, Bacon said.

"After six weeks the viral load was greatly reduced and by three months it was gone," Spears says. "But we continued the treatment for the full course. I just had my blood work done, and I am virus-free."

Judd is, too.

"After treatment, my PCR showed up negative," says Judd, who will publish a health and wellness book called Naomi's Breakthrough Guide early next year. "Back then Dr. Bruce used the term 'sustained remission' or 'sustained response.' I appreciate the fact that he now uses the word 'cure.'"

The prognosis for both Judd and Spears is excellent with a normal life expectancy.

"People need to know what the risk factors are for hepatitis C," Judd urges. "And if you are at risk, get tested. And if you do have hepatitis C, learn every thing you can about the disease so you can be your own advocate."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlighthealth/2003-09-05-naomi-judd_x.htm

3 Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson says she has hepatitis C

March 21, 2002 Posted: 8:38 AM EST (1338 GMT)

Pamela Anderson with current beau Kid Rock at a pre-Grammy party in February.

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Actress Pamela Anderson disclosed Wednesday she has hepatitis C and said she contracted the serious liver disease from sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband, rock musician Tommy Lee.

In a statement released Wednesday, Anderson said she has undergone outpatient treatment for the disease at UCLA Medical Center.

"Tommy has the disease and never disclosed it to me during our marriage," said Anderson, who is in a custody battle with Lee over their two children.

She accused Lee of telling others she had the disease, which she had intended to keep private.

"Her actions today are a clear attack on Tommy," read a statement from Lee issued a few hours later.

"Hopefully she will realize that she is only doing more harm to her children and herself by trying to use the media as a tool to hurt Tommy and their two boys."

Lee did not directly address Anderson's statement about hepatitis C, referring only to her "outrageous allegations."

Hepatitis C, a liver disease caused by a viral infection, affects nearly 2 percent of Americans. A person can become infected by sharing needles for drug use, tattooing or body piercing, getting a blood transfusion from someone with the disease, or being born to an infected mother.

The disease can lead to serious, permanent liver damage and in many cases, death. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 3 to 4 people out of 10 who receive treatment do get rid of the virus.

Anderson, a former Playboy model, became widely known for her role on the television series "Baywatch." Lee was a drummer for the heavy metal band Motley Crue and performs with his side band, Methods of Mayhem.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/20/pamela.anderson.hepatitis/index.html

4. Dame Anita Roddick

Dame Anita has Hepatitis C

Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick has said she has Hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver.

Dame Anita, 64, said she contracted the disease through a blood transfusion while giving birth to her youngest daughter, Sam, in 1971.

She was diagnosed with Hepatitis C two years ago and cirrhosis, a long-term effect of the disease, recently.

"It's a bit of a bummer... I had no idea I had this virus. I was having routine blood tests when it showed up."

In a statement posted on her website, she added: "What I can say is that having Hep C means that I live with a sharp sense of my own mortality, which in many ways makes life more vivid and immediate.

I want to blow the whistle on the fact that Hep C must be taken seriously as a public health challenge Anita Roddick What is Hepatitis C?

"It makes me even more determined to just get on with things."

Dame Anita has just become a patron of the Hepatitis C Trust, the only UK charity devoted to the virus.

She turned to the charity for information and help when she was diagnosed with the disease.

Dame Anita called for greater public awareness and better funding for the disease. It is often known as the "silent killer", because people with the disease may show no symptoms initially.

She said: "Well, I've always been a bit of a 'whistleblower' and I'm not going to stop now.

"I want to blow the whistle on the fact that Hep C must be taken seriously as a public health challenge and must get the attention and resources that it needs."

Stomach pain

The virus is carried in the blood and people who share needles are particularly at risk.

Dame Anita said it was especially important for people over 50 and anyone who had had a transfusion before 1991 - when the NHS started to test donated blood for the virus - to come forward for testing.

Professor William Rosenberg, of the University of Southampton, said 90% of people carrying the virus have not been diagnosed.

He said one of the problems was that it causes general symptoms including stomach pain, feelings of being unwell and poor concentration.

No vaccine exists to prevent Hepatitis C infection, but treatments are available which are effective in more than half of cases.

Dame Anita set up the first Body Shop in Brighton in 1976. It became part of the French company L'Oreal Group in July last year but is run independently.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6360781.stm

NOTE: Sadly Anita has since passed away, and the AHCS would like to acknowledge the outstanding work and commitment to hepatitis C in the community that Dame Anita was involved in, she will be missed dearly by all of us. (Australian Hepatitis C Support Team)

5. Steve Tyler

Steven Tyler: I Have Hepatitis C
Monday September 25, 2006

bauergriffin.com

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has been secretly battling hepatitis C — a serious viral infection of the blood, often associated with used needles, the New York Daily News reports.

In an Access Hollywood interview airing tomorrow night, Tyler, 58, admits that he was diagnosed three years ago but "I've had hepatitis C for a long time, asymptomatic."

"I've been pretty quiet about this," says the admitted former drug addict. "The band took a break about three years ago. … [My doctor] said now is the time, and it's 11 months of chemotherapy" — actually, interferon, which strengthens the immune system — "so I went on that, and it about killed me."

Tyler adds: "You know, it really hurt. It was a bad, bad period. I'm in AA, and I tried to go three, four, five months with nothing, and it about killed me."

As Tyler underwent interferon therapy, his marriage of 18 years to fashion designer Teresa Barrick suffered. The couple, who have two children, divorced earlier this year. "I had a little problem at home, to say the least," he says, "and I would run upstairs at night, you know, to put the kids asleep and wake up at 3 in the morning with a nosebleed — you know, just passed out from the interferon, the treatment. It's a shot and pills and all of that. But the good news is I stood the test of time."

About 4.5 million Americans suffer from hepatitis C, which can cause lead to scarring and cirrhosis of the liver.

"It's the silent killer," Tyler says. "I may go on Oprah and talk about this."

Tyler isn’t the only celebrity to suffer from hepatitis C. In 2002, Pamela Anderson announced that she had contracted the disease after sharing tattoo needles with ex-husband Tommy Lee.

Talk to Us: Would you watch Tyler talk about hepatitis C on The Oprah Winfrey Show?

http://www.usmagazine.com/node/2329

6. Natasha Lyonne

Pie star fights for life

August 23 2005 -

by AskMen.com Editors

© Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com

'American Pie' star Natasha Lyonne is fighting for her life in hospital.

The beautiful actress was admitted to intensive care in New York with hepatitis C, a collapsed lung and a heart infection.

While her father, Aaron Braunstein, believes the star picked up the liver virus while shooting a movie in Bulgaria three years ago, it has been rumoured she contracted the disease from becoming addicted to drugs.

According to America's New York Post newspaper, Lyonne is receiving methadone treatment, typically used to combat heroin addiction, and picked up hepatitis C through using shared needles.

The 26-year-old had not been seen in public since a judge issued an arrest warrant in April after she failed to attend a court hearing for harassment and trespassing.

The star had reportedly ripped a mirror off a wall before threatening to molest her neighbour's dog after a row.

The newspaper also alleged Lyonne was subsequently evicted from her home and was living on the streets before being admitted to hospital.

However, Lyonne's father Aaron denied the report.

He told American TV show 'Access Hollywood': "She's probably with the wrong crowd. She picked up the liver thing in Bulgaria during 'The Grey Zone.' It's a tragedy but we're praying for her."

http://au.askmen.com/gossip/natasha-lyonne

 

7. Evel Knievel

US daredevil Evel Knievel dies

Knievel famously attempted to jump Snake River Canyon

Legendary US daredevil Evel Knievel has died at the age of 69, his granddaughter has said.

Knievel had suffered ill-health, including diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis - an incurable lung condition - for several years.

He underwent a liver transplant, after nearly dying of hepatitis C, in 1999.

Knievel gained cult status performing death-defying stunts in the 1960s and 70s, including an attempted motorcycle jump over Snake River Canyon in Idaho.

Evel Knievel
Reporter Kevin Smith wrote this article in September 1998 when Evel Knievel was 59. Although it was a scoop at the time, the world had all but forgotten Evel Knievel, a man who once commanded headlines and airtime in many countries of the world.

By Kevin Smith
Published August 2000

Evel Knievel has stared at death over the handlebars of his bike hundreds of times. As the daredevil stuntman in white leather, he soared through the air and come crashing down as the world watched and winced. But this time there is nothing he can do to steer away from inevitable death. Not extra throttle, no last-minute swerve. Evel Knievel, the last of the gladiators, is dying.

Not the death everyone expected. Not a bone shattering crash at some glamorous location jumping over a shark tank, or double-decker buses or a long line of limousines. Evel's life is being slowly taken away by liver disease, and unless he can get a transplant, he will not survive. "It is a bitch," Evel said. "I am not scared of it, nothing much scares me. But I just don't want to die."

Evel became a hero to the world not just because of his jumping skill, or the spectacular falls but for his gutsy determination, the determination that had him fall, break his body into several pieces, then dust himself off and do it all over again. Fans marveled at how he survived those falls, and now it appears he didn't.

Blood tainted with hepatitis C was used during one of the 14 surgeries that pieced him back together. Evel is not sure which one. But it doesn't matter now. "Truth is, if I don't get a new liver, I am going to die. Even with a new one, there is no guarantee.. My body may reject it. And if it does work, it is just buying me some more time. Maybe seven years.

Hepatitis C is worse than AIDS. There is no cure. If I do get a liver the disease will start attacking the new one as soon as it is put in. It is a damn rattlesnake this thing."

Now Evel carries a pager which will alert him when a liver is found. But he doesn't kid himself about his chances. He is just one of 10,000 anxiously waiting, and 25 percent of those die before a donor is found. "It is not first come first served. The livers are given out to the sickest. At one point I was what they call a B2, which is real sick. When my health improved a bit my doctor told me to go and visit my grandkids while I still had the chance."

He is still on that tear jerking tour of America, spending quality time with his four children and seven grandchildren. "I don't know how long I got left," Evel said. "I thought I was a gonner a couple of times already." Twice doctors have pulled him back from the brink. A staphylococcal infection, related to the degenerating liver, has caused massive hemorrhages in his neck.

"I thought I was going to bleed to death. The veins in my throat literally exploded. That was five years ago when they discovered the real problem was my liver. That was when they told me to quit drinking. "But you know, I am a stubborn man. I have been a big shot all my life. I thought I knew it all. So I continued to drink. I have punished my liver I can tell you, and that just helps hepatitis C even more."

That punishment included years of pain killers washed down with the Evel cocktail, the Montana Mary. A lethal mix of beer, tomato juice and Wild Turkey whisky. In his heyday Evel did little to dispel rumors that the secret ingredient was a couple of drops of sump oil.

"I haven't had a drink in years. I drink non-alcoholic beer now. I can't risk a beer and I don't want one. "This disease is a bitch. Some days, I just can't get out of bed. It saps your energy. Some days are good, some are bad."

http://www.the-vu.com/Evel.htm

 

 

8. Natalie Cole

Natalie Cole diagnosed with hepatitis C

July 17, 2008

US singer Natalie Cole diagnosed with hepatitis C.
Photo: Reuters

 

Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole has been diagnosed with hepatitis C, her publicist said in a statement yesterday.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. The statement said the disease was revealed during a routine examination and was likely caused by her drug use years ago.

"I've been so fortunate to have learned so much from my past experiences," said Cole. "I am embraced by the love and support of my family and friends; I am committed to my belief in myself and in my abiding faith to meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination. This is how I intend to deal with this current challenge in my life."

Her physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, Dr Graham Woolf, said Cole has had a "terrific response to her medication and is now virus negative".

"This gives her an increased chance of cure," he said.

Woolf said Cole is recovering from side-effects of the medicine she's taking, including fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration.

Cole, 58, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, has sold millions of records over her long career. She is due to release Still Unforgettable, the follow-up to 1991's Grammy-winning, multi-platinum CD Unforgettable ... With Love, on which she remade some of her father's classics, in September.

9. Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman has lived to tell about it. But barely.

The singer, organist and namesake of the Allman Brothers Band had the obligatory rock-star battles with drugs and drink - finally getting clean in the mid-’90s. He’s lived through the death of his brother, two bassists and even a marriage to Cher. More amazing, his career’s survived the duo’s 1977 vanity project “Allman and Woman.”

But his 60th year was possibly his toughest. This Saturday the Allman Brothers Band brings its perennial summer tour to the Comcast Center in Mansfield after nearly a year off the road while its namesake was treated for hepatitis C.

“I thought I’d just head to the top of my house and play guitar and piano and write some songs,” Allman said from his home in Georgia. “But a musician friend of mine who also went through the treatment, (keyboard player) Neil Larsen, told me that wouldn’t be happening. He was stone right.

“For 24 weeks, it was like I was under house arrest,” he said of the painful, debilitating interferon treatments. “Bathing was just, oh my God, even that was tough. I put on about 23 pounds because I couldn’t do anything.”

Allman thinks he contracted the virus from a tattoo needle, maybe when band mates were inked with their mushroom logo in the earlier days. But Allman has no way of knowing. He spent decades abusing his body like few can do and survive (we’re looking in your direction, Keith Richards) so the hepatitis diagnosis wasn’t exactly a shock to anyone.

Now with the disease in remission, Allman is ready for the road with a two-month tour fans have been waiting for since the band canceled its annual spring run at the Beacon Theatre in New York City as well as sets at Bonnaroo and its own Wanee Festival in Florida.

He’s also back writing and ready to record.

“I was told that when my strength came back so would my creativity, twice as strong,” Allman said. “As I got better I started doing a lot of writing. They’re just good butt-bumping blues songs. Ones that the crowd can relate to like Statesboro Blues.’ (Allman Brothers guitarist) Warren Haynes and I are going to work on some of them later this week and see where they go.”

Allman isn’t sure if the songs will end up on a solo album or a new Brothers studio record, which he says is coming. Nor did he reveal if any of them are going to make it into the Mansfield set list.

“You’re asking me, ‘Is there really a rabbit in that hat?’,” he answered with a laugh. “Now, you know I can’t tell you that.”

He will confirm that the jam band is working on reviving material it hasn’t played in years, something fresh for the younger guys in the band - including Haynes and guitar phenom Derek Trucks - to chew on.

“This band’s like a Harley,” he said. “I look at an old Harley and I say, ‘Man, you gotta chrome those wheels, give it some new paint, some nice-looking handlebars.’ That’s what these younger guys do for the band. They put new paint on a classic Harley.”

http://news.bostonherald.com

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