Fighting Hepatitis C: One Man's Success Story

Fighting Hepatitis C: One Man's Success Story

May 30 2013

Hearing the words "you have hepatitis C" is a traumatic and devastating moment in anyone’s life.

When diagnosed with a chronic illness many people find themselves, scared, lost, and confused. Receiving such news is akin to having one’s sense of self-security, mortality even, tossed into the center of a complex maze. Through a fog of anxiety and doubt, one ever so cautiously maneuvers around difficult decisions, desperately searching for a safe, glorious exit.

At some point in time, you begin to ask yourself a few questions; what can I do to improve my condition? Can this disease be treated, if so, should I start treatment immediately or wait? Self-reflection is the starting point of this labyrinth. Eventually one discovers the paths that lead to acceptance and self-advocating. Hopefully, scouting these routes will make traversing the management and treatment of the illness easier.

With this in mind, we visit the story of one such man who made his way out of the pitfalls of chronic illness. In the fall of 2008 Don Crocock was diagnosed with hepatitis C. Today, Don shares his story, his trials, and the discoveries he’s made during his own journey through treatment on the path to wellness.

Don, now sixty, takes pride in his two sons and the life he shares with his wife Laurie in southern Ontario. Surpassing many milestones over the course of his life, his recovery from cocaine and alcohol addiction began on February 15th, 1993. Today, Don credits his wife with saving his life, this year the couple celebrate twenty years of recovery.

Don is part of the baby boomer generation, which is anyone born between 1945 and 1965. In the United States, 4 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, one in 30 are baby boomers and 75 percent are unaware they have the virus. In 2012 the CDC released the recommendation that all baby boomers should be tested one time for hepatitis C. Recently, the Canadian Liver Foundation (CLF) extended the recommendation for testing beyond the boomer generation to those born between 1945 and 1975, taking into account immigration from countries where hepatitis C is more common.

According to the CDC , 55% of persons ever infected with HCV reported an exposure risk of either (IV drug use or blood transfusion before July 1992), and the remaining 45% reported no known exposure risk (CDC, unpublished data, 2012).

Other potential exposures include ever having received chronic hemodialysis, being born to an HCV-infected mother, intranasal drug use, acquiring a tattoo in an unregulated establishment, being incarcerated, being stuck by a needle (e.g., in health care, emergency medical, home, or public safety settings) and receiving invasive health-care procedures (i.e., those involving a percutaneous exposure, such as surgery before implementation of universal precautions).

In Don’s case, he contracted hep C through experimental drug use during his youth. Don is not alone, as many people today contracted the illness the same way. Awareness for intravenous drug use during Don’s adolescence was much lower than it is today. Also, tolerance of drug exploration was much higher in many circles during that era.

Don offers a unique perspective on the guilt and stigma; that for many people infected with this disease are all too familiar with.  I share with you his words of wisdom. 

"People struggle with guilt and shame issues in early recovery. It's even worse if you add in hepatitis C. We can't let our past dictate today!" 

Don was shocked when he was diagnosed, it came out of nowhere - the mistakes of his younger self had come back to haunt him. At the time, Don had fifteen years of recovery under his belt; he was working as an addiction counselor and advocate. During an earlier interview Don remarked;

“I worked so long and so hard to undo the damage from my past, I advocated, I volunteered – and for what? It seemed like I just got blindsided.” 

In 2008 Don started to notice the first symptoms of debilitating fatigue. Laurie became concerned, she had seldom seen her husband nap after work, and so, she insisted Don go see a doctor. That September it all began, the first test, the worry, the waiting. Finally, the results were in. Don was about to hear those three words, "You have hepatitis C."

In June 2009 while still working two jobs, Don began 48 weeks of treatment with Pegintron and Ribavirin. Faced with fibrosis, and the knowledge that genotype 1 was the most difficult to treat, he was once again determined to beat the odds.

Until 2011, standard therapy for hepatitis C consisted of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. The SVR rate, or cure, was approximately 40–50% for genotype 1 patients and higher rates of up to 80% for alternate genotypes. In May of 2011 the FDA approved Boceprevir and Telaprevir for genotype 1 patients, the first two direct-acting antiviral agents to treat HCV.  Telaprevir increased SVR in  previously untreated genotype 1 patients to 69-75%, close to the same with Boceprevir. Both drugs are used with Peginterferon and Ribavirin.

Don had to wait six months before beginning HCV therapy, a protocol used by physicians for patients who have a past history of drug or alcohol abuse. Although, in Don’s case his history dated back some fifteen years, Don felt the blow. The stigma was alive; he had no other recourse but to wait another six months to treat the virus.

The first viral load test came after four weeks of treatment, it was down, but not completely gone.  Don was dealing with anemia, extreme fatigue, and many other ongoing side effects. Again his wife stepped in and suggested a leave of absence from work. He agreed that working both jobs had become increasingly difficult to handle. Don applied for government employment insurance (E.I.) to cover their expenses for the next seventeen weeks. When the insurance ended, he had twenty seven weeks left of treatment; he worked both jobs during that time.

At week twelve Don was told his hemoglobin had dropped, he was soon put on a rescue drug called Eprex (Procrit in the US) for thirty six weeks, one injection a week.

Then Don hit the wall, it was at week twenty six when he felt twitching, anxiety and an overall feeling of despair.

He was sure the culprit was Ribavirin and asked his doctor to lower the dose, but his doctor refused.

In May 2010 Don had finished treatment, coupled with the loss of his father in the same month; Don was left feeling exhausted and grief stricken. Refusing to give in, he decided to get some work done around the house. Don knew he was back after painting a 120ft fence without experiencing any of the lingering side effects which he had endured for so long. Soon winter set in as he waited for his post PCR results. On December 8, 2010 the results were in, at last, Don was virus free!

Today Don continues working on the frontlines as an outreach worker and counselor in Ontario. He embraces helping others on their own roads to recovery. In 2003 Don was awarded with the Courage to Come Back Award from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. He also has an online presence, connect with Don on Facebook or Twitter.  

I leave with this inspiring quote from Don; 

"Acceptance allowed me to escape the "oppression of my past" that I imposed on myself. It is what it is, and today I'm free to be me."

For more information on testing visit http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hepatitisc/