Apalachicola FL Native a Victim of Hepatitis C

Apalachicola FL Native a Victim of Hepatitis C
July 5, 2007

Apalachicola native, Ron Wilson, 51, of Tallahassee underwent a liver transplant at Shands Transplantation Center in Gainesville, FL on May 16. Wilson is the victim of Hepatitis C (hep C) a little known form of viral hepatitis.

A small nonprofit in Tallahassee, H.E.A.L.S of the South (Hepatitis Education Awareness and Liver Support) is willing to help collect funds towards Ron's medical expenses. Please send your tax deductible $$ to:

H.E.A.L.S of the South
PO Box 180813
Tallahassee, FL 32318

Please mark for *Ron's Transplant Fund* as these will be kept separately.

For more information about Wilson or hepatitis C visit the following website www.HEALSoftheSouth.org or call Pam Langford, President of H.E.A.L.S 850-443-8029.

Wilson's surgery and convalescence will cost about half a million dollars. Four hundred thousand for the surgery and one hundred thousand for the antirejection drugs he will take for the rest of his life.

Hep C has been referred to as a *silent epidemic*. Millions have the condition but many of them are not aware of it because they may not experience symptoms for decades after they are infected. Hep C is diagnosed ten to forty years after it is contracted on the average. That's a big reason why hepatitis testing and treatment are so important.

According to the National Institutes of Health:
Approximately 1.8% of the U.S. population or 3.9 million Americans have been infected with the Hepatitis C virus.

About 35,000 new cases of hep C are estimated to occur in the United States each year.

Chronic hep C is now the most common reason for liver transplantation and the leading cause in the U.S. for developing liver cancer.

Hepatitis C patients outnumber HIV patients about 5 to 1 yet very little is known by the general public about the differences between Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G. There is not a vaccine for Hepatitis C (there is for Hep A and B) and most people do not have any symptoms until they reach the end stages (cirrhosis) of the disease. It is a slow progressing disease so most people are not even aware they have it until it reaches cirrhosis which can then lead to liver cancer, liver transplantion, and/or death. About 5 million people in the United States have this disease and 4 million do not know it! Risk factors for hep C include the following:

* received a blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before July 1992
* were notified that you received blood from a donor who later tested positive for hepatitis C.
* have ever injected illegal drugs, even if you experimented only one time many years ago (or snorted any drugs)
* were a recipient of clotting factor(s) made before 1987
* have ever been on long-term kidney dialysis
* have had tattoos or body piercings
* had sexual activity that involved contact with blood
* have had vaccinations administered with pneumatic jet injectors
* are a veteran (especially Viet Nam)
* have shared razors, toothbrushes, nail clippers, tweezers, etc. with an infected person
* are a health care worker exposed to needle sticks or first responders
* also 5%-10% of babies born to infected mothers will get Hepatitis C
* have ever been incarcerated

A picture of Ron, his mother and father were in the newspaper article.

Written by Lois Swoboda, The Times, Franklin County's source of news for more than a century