Michael wins his battle with Hepatitis C

Is Hep C curable?

“Yes,” said Michael de Mesa, a Hepatitis C survivor.

With that, Michael has just given hope to Hep C sufferers including my friend’s son who backed out from joining an airline because, although he passed all the tests, he was worried that the final medical exam would reveal him to be Hep C positive.

Thursday last week, Michael spoke lengthily during the “BEATHepC” campaign presscon attended by Dr. Edhel Tripon and Dr. Jade Jamias who are both members of the Hepatology Society of the Philippines.

In the process, Michael’s long talk answered (excerpted below) all the questions raised by Funfare, questions that perhaps most Hep C sufferers and their families have been wanting to but didn’t know who to ask.

How and when were you diagnosed to be Hep C positive? How did you get infected?

“The main suspect could have been in 1997 when I had my ear pierced in a Texas mall using a staple gun. May possibility na dumugo ‘yung butas n’ung tenga and the blood dried on the device which was used on other people. In 1999, I found out that I had the Hep C virus when I was supposed to donate blood. I was shocked. I consulted another doctor for a second opinion and it was confirmed that I was infected. I freaked out because it’s a disease that could eventually kill you if you don’t take care of yourself, but it’s manageable as long as your immune system is strong and you don’t drink para okey ang liver mo. I don’t drink.”

How else can a person get infected?

“What I and other people know is that a person can get Hep A through contaminated food and that Hep A virus is airborne so it is infectious. Hep C is blood-borne. You get it if you have blood transfusion or if you do drugs using shared needles. I didn’t do any of those things. You can also get it through manicure and pedicure if the nippers and clippers used in public salons are contaminated. Or from tattooing. I had tattoos but the needles used on me were all brand-new, I’m sure.”

Michael with Dr. Edhel Tripon and Dr. Jade Jamias of the Hepatology of the Philippines during the presscon for the ‘BEATHepC’ campaign

What treatment did you have?

“In 2001, I decided to go for treatment. A doctor introduced a drug to me but there was no guarantee of me being cured. I did that for three months. The medicine made me sick even more. I would inject every other day at 6 p.m. By midnight, I would feel the effects…high fever that made me throw up and suffer from muscle pain that would last for 12 hours. My work was affected. I stopped injecting. Then my parents advised me to try homeopathic treatment but the ingredients were not available in the Philippines, only in the States. But luckily I continued to manage the disease for almost five years and I would undergo tests every six months. My liver was okay and I was happy.”

What are the symptoms of Hep C?

“There’s hardly any. The problem with Pinoys is that we don’t have ourselves checked when we don’t feel anything. My suggestion is you should. You’ll never know that you have it until it’s too late. The Hep C virus is something na wala kang mararamdaman. By the time you feel something, baka may cirrhosis or may liver cancer ka na.”

So how did you find the right (effective) treatment?

“Before my wife and I migrated to the States in 2010, I had my viral count checked. The machine could read only up to 800,000 and mine was much higher. In 2011, another check…11 million, chronic na and very high. Okey pa naman ang results ng ultrasound and blood tests but I took care of my liver and kept my immune system strong. In 2014, my wife discovered that there was a cure for Hep C but it cost $1,000 per pill. I didn’t know my genotype and if I would fall under the 12-week or 24-week treatment which would have cost $24,000! Instead, I just tried my best to live a healthy lifestyle. When we came home, my viral count went up from 11 million to 36 million. The doctor checked my liver and it was still healthy.”

(To make a long story shorter, Michael’s wife Julie Reyes-Eigenmann was persistent and never stopped in looking for other treatments until she found online the story of someone who got cured of Hep C. Read more about it in Michael and Julie’s Facebook page where the couple also answers all the questions that you want to ask them. Meanwhile, asked if men are more at risk than women, Dr. Jade Jamias said, “Gender is irrelevant in Hepatitis C. It really depends on exposure to the virus and the level of exposure to it.”)

How are you now?

“I still have my monthly tests and undetected pa rin ‘yung result so I can truly say that I am Hep C-cured. I am a Hep C survivor. My mission in life is to spread awareness about Hep C.”

(For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)