IN THIS ISSUE… - Barnsley Council Online

The Hepatitis C Trust is patient-led and is the national UK charity.All calls are confidential and are charged at the national rate(but may be more from a mobile).We are a member of the Helplines Association.Charity Registration Numbers: England and Wales 1104279, Scotland SCO39914Steven DowneyTom CollierGary Lee‘I am running the Liverpool Marathon on 14October 2012 to raise funds for TheHepatitis C Trust.‘This is a personal challenge for me. For along time, not caring if I lived or died, I abusedmy body through substance misuse. Thatis behind me and with a new zest for life, Inow challenge myself on a daily basis.‘I want to raise awareness havingexperienced the loneliness and lack ofsupport that can come with being tested,living with and going through treatment forhep C, and finally to help raise someimportant funds for the great work TheHepatitis C Trust is doing to help othersachieve what can seem an impossible taskon their own.’LEAFLETS AND POSTERSPete Johnson‘I started running fairly recently andentered my first 5K run at Darley Park inDerby in August. I decided to use theopportunity to support The Hep C Trustbecause of my experiences working withpatients who have been infected.All donations will go towards raisingawareness of this infection and the Trustdo fantastic work in helping spread theword about hepatitis C and offeringsupport to those infected.’www.justgiving.com/PetejjLastly, thanks also to Tom Collier (see lastnewsletter) who raised a whopping £605for us on the Brighton Marathon – welldone Tom!We have a range of leaflets, posters, postcards, badges and T-shirts available – if youwould like to be sent an order form with the full range of materials available, pleasecall or email Samantha May at The Trust for further information. We also have basicinformation on hepatitis C available in Polish and Urdu.These are the risks…Blood transfusions (prior to 1992)Injecting drugs, even onceUnsterile tattoos/piercingsMedical/dental proceduresabroadOther blood to blood contactDiscuss with your GPwhether to get testedfor hepatitis CFind out more at www.hepctrust.org.ukor call our helpline: 0845 223 4424Wirusowe zapaleniewątroby typu C(WZW typu C)Czy potrzebuję poddać się badaniu?Do I need a test for hepatitis C?RADIO 4 APPEALOn Sunday 23rd September, The Hepatitis CTrust were BBC Radio 4’s featured charity ofthe week with a three minute donor appeal.The voice of the appeal was Lesley Jenkins,our Volunteer Co-ordinator and TrainingManager, who spoke about her personalexperience of living with hepatitis C,treatment and overcoming the virus.Lesley realised that she might have hepatitis Cafter she listened to an interview with BodyShop founder and former Hepatitis C Trustpatron, Anita Roddick, on Radio 4’s Women’sHour in 2007. In the interview Anita spokeabout her own experiences of the virus whichshe contracted when she received a bloodtransfusion following the birth of her child.Lesley also had a transfusion when her sonwas born around the same time which was pre-1992, before blood was screened in the UK.As she listened, Lesley realised thesymptoms of tiredness and fatigue that shehad felt for years were identical to those ofAnita. She returned to her GP and specificallyrequested a hepatitis C test which came backpositive. “On the day I was diagnosed, it wasa mixture of ‘finally here’s the answer to allthese symptoms for all these years – I’m notimagining it after all!’ and ‘Oh my God!’ Untilthen I hadn’t heard of hepatitis C and didn’tknow anything about it.”Lesley completed treatment for the virustwice, the second time commuting to Londonfor a drug trial. In autumn 2010 it wasconfirmed that the trial drug (now available asIncivo) had successfully cleared the virus.Lesley now works for The Hepatitis C Trustusing her own experiences to train healthprofessionals in recognising, diagnosing andmanaging the virus.The Hepatitis C Trust is the national UKcharity for people with hepatitis C. Ourmission is to diagnose all those infected sothey don’t die unnecessarily and ultimately toeradicate the virus in the UK. The Radio 4Appeal was a unique awareness raisingopportunity for the Trust and Lesley’s storypersonalises hepatitis C, a condition that israrely highlighted in the media.She concludes, “Hearing that Anita Roddickinterview saved my life. If anyone listens to ourappeal and gets tested and diagnosed, thenthat’s a good result as far as I’m concerned.Donations from this appeal will be usedexplicitly to increase awareness and diagnosisthrough our outreach testing programmes.”Indeed our helpline has been experiencinga high level of enquiries since the appealwas aired. If you missed it and would liketo hear it, it is still available herewww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mtshjIf you would like to make a donation detailson how to do so are on the back page.11