Hepatitis C Treatment in Argentina:

Hepatitis C Survivor Stories

Almost every day I receive an email from someone who has been cured of Hepatitis C through the use of generic Hep C medicines from India. Often they are fairly brief, just a short thank you and updating me on how their life has improved since they cleared the virus.

Often I ask these people to write me a little story about their battle with Hep C because it helps other people who are about to embark on their own battle with Hep C.

Because of language barriers, most of the people I help are from English-speaking countries so when I get a message from someone from a non-English speaking country I am very pleased when they will write their story in their own language.

So I have some stories in Spanish and Portuguese and Croatian and Filipino and Serbian. Below is the English version of a story written in Spanish by a person with Hepatitis C in Argentina. I published it today in my blog in the Spanish version for people with Hepatitis C in Argentina. I decided to post this English translation because it’s such an interesting story.

HEPATITIS C… A BATTLE YOU CAN WIN

Learning I Was Infected with Hep C

A long time ago… exactly ten and a half years ago I received unexpected news without warning and without any suspicion…. I had a virus in my liver that without warning was charging me an expensive price for its residence in my liver …

The analysis was conclusive regarding the suspicion of my medical friend Guillermo Suaya… I had becone a host for Hepatitis C… A short time before this news I had visited him looking for answers to my stomach inflammation …  My good Doctor friend, being well foresighted, had requested a battery of tests that indicated that indeed my liver was not well and … for obvious reasons …. I suspected that the Hepatitis C virus was in my blood for some time…

It was very, very hard news for me to learn that I was infected by a predictably fatal disease, a disease that destroys lives in a high percentage of cases. Hard to hear that this virus was now my constant traveling companion through life … a menacing invader hidden in the folds of my liver … Just thinking about that moment leaves me momentarily blank …

Deaths From Hep C

At that time … 2010 … the number of deaths that were definitely attributable to the Hep C virus was incredible … the solution was supposedly a combination of interferon and ribavirin, in treatments of 24 and 48 weeks …. A treatment that came with some terrible side effects that … as I ended up appreciating in person … were devastating both physically and mentally.

The Horror of Interferon and Ribavirin

After tough procedures, I achieved the indicated Interferon treatment that was provided to me free of charge by the Argentine government thanks to a procedure carried out by my social work … and so my martyrdom of Interferon and Ribavirin began. As it is not the place I will give as a reference that in the treatment I lost about 20 kilos weighing from 78 to 58… hair fell out… etc. Etc. as  is the experience of others in many similar chemotherapies.

When in 2012 I finished the treatment and… only after six months I again had positive detection of the virus in my blood… I think that a lot of what happened to me was that essentially I was going to find some way to defeat the bug… of course… less to do

Again the Interferon treatment because it was simply a foretold death and also it had not resulted with all that wasted effort and my mind was very confused at the time.

Rumours About Sovaldi

For the case, what was rumored was that several very promising trials announced a Sofosbuvir antiviral with very encouraging results…. Especially in Hep C with viruses of the type ¡, the most resistant and obviously the one that touched me in the cast … Sovaldi… from Gilead Sciences is a patent from 2013 and I understand that in 2015 it was replicated in India and other places… And it is relevant because Sovaldi was the “magic drug” that appeared and gave an effective 95% viral response sustained by years with absolutely zero detectable presence of virus in blood … Gilead had bought this product, which is a very successful development that comes from the year 2008 of the Pharmasset company … in 2012 they saw the scope of the business and later they obtained the blessing of the FDA, an essential step for its commercialization in the USA.

Buy or Die

The small detail that Gilead had in store for us was the humble and modest price they had established for the 84 little pills… Something like a thousand dollars a pill…. US$1,000 FOR EACH ONE… or EIGHTY-FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS PER TREATMENT…. Yes … even if you don’t believe it … Also to make the story more dynamic, I will ignore the long struggle I had with the Government, the treating doctors, and the social works to try to convince them to buy the medicine … obviously with little success …. All of them based on the fact that they would supply me with the medicine only with fibrosis 4 in the liver and obvious signs of liver cirrhosis… that is, you must be near death before they will treat you.

So they will provide the medicine that provides the solution to Hepatitis C when you don’t need it because when it arrives you are more than dead…. because your liver is already totally destroyed.

Once the legal route was closed for the economic reasons of governments and businessmen, there was only a miracle left or to find a way out when none was seen.

Generic Hep C Treatments from India and China

I had learned about the development in India and China of some generic Hep C drugs but I definitely could not find the way to get them because in Argentina there were many obstacles to bring anything into Argentina on the one hand, and on the other hand, because supposedly those products were not “legal” they would be blocked by Customs. So it was around 2016 that my son who lived in Australia informed me that he knew about this guy called Greg Jefferys who was helping people around the world access Hepatitis C treatment.

Finding Greg Jefferys

So I contacted Greg and nd that’s how I met this person who is now a good friend and learned about this topic … I want you to understand that I could write a book with the accumulation of sensations that I had at that moment when I realized that I almost had this life-saving Hep C medication at my fingertips….

So many questions overwhelmed me, doubts … the issue of logistics given that in Argentina they stop you ordering medicines and hold them … the issue of effectiveness … they will be good … they will be the same as the other very expensive medication from Gilead?   Every sort of worrying thing you can imagine going through my head.

Let’s consider that at that time one hundred thousand dollars was unattainable for me, it was an impossible amount of money! And yet waiting to have cirrhosis of the liver was also totally unacceptable; so the only alternative I saw was to get the medication as soon as possible….

It is also good to say that I mostly had no symptoms from my Hep C infection at this stage…

So after talking all this through with Greg he facilitated the way through for me, just as my son facilitates the payment.

Smuggling Gold into Argentina

The medication was delivered to my son in Australia and he then made the trip to Argentina with the bottles hidden between his clothes, carrying them like hidden treasure all the way to my house on the other side of the world… Like all happy ending this story also has a happy ending because now, four years later, I have my enzymes normally, my virus detection gives zero, and the fantastic thing that this treatment gave me was peace of mind…

In itself, taking the capsules has no visible effect in my experience … absolutely nothing … I was taking Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir for my Hep C genotype 1, which advised that combination … in side effects absolutely nothing at all .

And after only fifteen days into the treatment, and against the will of my doctor … on my own, I went to a laboratory and asked for a viral load count in the blood and it already gave ZERO !!!!

Do Not Doubt or Delay

I understand that some have doubts regarding this medication but doubts can cost you your life … this is nothing more than a miracle made in capsules … It has no side effects except having spiritual peace for once that obviously improves the entire level of life… I do not know who this little story I have written will reach but I offer myself to all kinds of help that is required to be able to take this medication to whoever needs it … do not let yourself be …. Suddenly this is a cure, not a palliative or a hope .. it is a reality that can save many many many lives…  This is my true story ad I am Dr. Fernando O Berot Molochnik…. Lawyer…. Buenos Aires, Argentina….

Ferberot@gmail.com

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