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ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/24/2009
Marlene Barron learned a lesson from her life-and-death battle with hepatitis C: that accepting a helping hand is as valuable as giving one.
Before the illness, she prided herself in her self-sufficient, heartland spirit of not asking for help.
"I was private and prideful," she said. "I found that wasn't very healthy."
The lesson began shortly after Barron was infected in June 2003 with hepatitis C through a medical accident.
Six months after exposure, symptoms broke out.
"It was the flu times 100," she said. The drugs were just as debilitating. Worse, they didn't work
But infections can stem from anything that exposes someone to someone else's blood.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the hepatitis C infection rate is four times higher than HIV disease.
Many people don't know they're infected. Untreated, the disease can cause liver cancer.
FEAR AND AVERSION
Barron took a year off from work and spent most of her time in bed. "My husband was virtually a single parent to our twin daughters," she said. "He did everything."
Still, she continued to hide, expecting ridicule.
"It was a lonely battle, because I was fearful of rejection by my friends."
She shared her plight with fewer than 10 people.
Then, a friend said, "Do you think the people you associate with would treat you that way?"
She began discussing her plight, and friends rushed to her rescue. Church members, neighbors and friends pitched in with house cleaning, child care, shopping, meals.
"I didn't understand how wonderful people were until I found my neighbor coming by and washing our clothes for us," said Barron's husband, Cory Barron.
A friend introduced her to a website called "CaringBridge.org," best described as a Facebook for people with devastating illnesses.
Barron joined, explained her illness and wrote a weekly, sometimes daily, diary.
That brought help from people she'd never met.
"A woman wrote she wanted to know about me so she could pray for me," she said. Another stranger helped her win coverage from her health insurance company.
Rather than feel ashamed, she said, she felt better.
MIRACLE DOCTOR
The Rev. Robert Hartmann, a pastoral care counselor at St. Louis University Hospital, while not connected with Barron, said her story isn't uncommon.
"Many people come from (life-threatening) challenges changed," Hartmann said. "Accepting help can be as redemptive as giving help."
Barron's health began to improve after she discussed her illness with Dr. Damon Clines, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist whose son attended Promise Christian Academy in Chesterfield, where Barron is an occupational therapist.
Clines said her zeal impressed him. "She had a lot to live for and she wasn't ready to throw in the towel, so we gave it another shot," he said.
In April, 14 months after beginning treatment, there's no sign of the virus and no symptoms, Clines said. Barron is back to full speed and recently hosted a party for about 200 people who helped during her ordeal.
"I fought because I don't want anyone else married to my husband," she said. "I wanted (my daughters) to know that I fought hard to be their mom."
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