In the July 12 issue of the Signal Tribune, we asked readers to identify the group on the right.
Gary Dudley and Jane Fallon of Signal Hill wrote in and said:
The group in this picture is one of the teams of over 500 people that walked in the American Liver Foundation Fund Raiser in 1999. It took place at Burton Chase Park in Marina Del Rey. The participants are, from left to right, Mr. and Mrs. Ron Watts, Julian Prabhu, Gary Dudley, Bob Haben and Jane Fallon.
The Liver Spots team was assembled in support of Gary Dudley who has hepatitis C.
Gary is one of the 638,000 people in California who have contracted this disease that attacks all kinds of people in our society. For example, one of every 500 children between the ages of 6 and 11 is chronically infected with Hepatitis C. At least 1 in 5 inmates in American prisons are infected with the disease.
Currently, hepatitis C kills over 10,000 in the United States, and deaths from hepatitis C are expected to triple over the next 10 years. hepatitis C is four times more prevalent than HIV.
Most people don’t know they have been infected. Usually, symptoms don’t appear until the disease has caused serious damage to one’s liver. This can take from 20 to 40 years as the effect of the disease on one’s liver goes through five stages, each one more serious and more resistant to available treatment. The last stage, stage five, usually results in cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Treatments are very limited and are more effective the sooner they are taken after the disease is contracted. Currently, most treatments are interferon based with only a 40 to 50 percent success rate.
Nearly 18,000 Americans are awaiting a life-saving liver transplant and that number is growing. Over 6,000 Americans died in 2001 while waiting for a liver transplant.
For these reasons, it is so important to be tested for hepatitis C and to make sure you have all papers filled out to make sure your decision is clear that you want to donate your organs upon your death. I know these topics aren’t happy and are hard to face but it might be so easy for you to save a life, the ultimate gift.
And how is Gary doing? He recently failed his interferon treatment and is searching for a way to slow down the disease’s effect on the liver. He is approaching stage four and needs to stay well for about 3-4 years when new treatments will be available. These treatments are currently being developed and tested and several are very promising. That is one of the reasons walks like the one in your picture are so important. They raise money to help pay for research and patient physical and emotional comforts.
The 1999 and subsequent walks have been very successful and helped with the fight against liver diseases. Printing this in the newspaper and reminding us of the ongoing research to find treatment and cures for all liver diseases is appreciated more than you know.
