VANCOUVER -- More than 50% of Canadians aren't aware Hepatitis is a form of liver disease. The survey also found people in BC are the least likely to be worried about getting hepatitis. Yet here on the Pacific Rim, we are very exposed to these viruses. Experts estimate there are some 30 to 40,000 hepatitis B carriers in BC, alone, and most don't even know it.
Max Chang had Hepititis B and is a liver transplant patient. He says, "at the beginning, actually, there's no symptoms for Hepititis, there's no pain, no nothing."
It was a blood donation test that first told Max he was infected with Hepatitis B. Twenty years later, his liver began to fail. He lost 55 pounds in three months. He became very weak and couldn't stand up.
Hepitis B is much more easily spread then HIV or even Hepititis C, but you can't get it by eating at an asian restaurant. The virus is passed through the exchange or bodily fluids, in the home, through sexual contact and at birth.
Max was infected thru his mother, who died at 57 from liver cirrhosis. It also killed one of his brothers at the age of 45. Because Hepatitis B is common in Asia, immigrants from there are more likely to be carriers, but researchers here have found many are in the dark about this virus.
Dr. Eric Yoshida, Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program, as well as the Head of Gastroentology for UBC, says, "A lot had heard about Hepititis B, but very few knew it could cause cirrhosis, very few knew it could cause liver cancer and very few realized it could shorten your life."
Babies here and in Asia are now being vaccinated against Hepatitis B, but if you're older than 26, you probably didn't get vaccinated in any public program here.
For Max, only a liver transplant would save his life. After two years of waiting, a donor organ arrived. Even Max's doctor told him he was very lucky to get a liver.
It took Max a full year to recover from transplant. Now he has to take 13 pills a day just to keep his body from rejecting his new liver. Throughout his ordeal, Max kept a journal. He plans on writing a book to help others.
"I want to share the experience to all the hepititis B patients and their families. I feel very blessed."
Now not all people infected with Hep B become chronic carriers. Some people do clear the virus on their own, but they tend to those infected as adults, not children. There is a growing gap between people waiting for liver transplants and available donor organs, so experts say the best defence is preventing hepatitis infections and liver disease in the first place. If you'd like to sign up as an organ donor you can register online at www.transplantbc.ca.
Friday April 21, 2006
