Hepatits C is a silent killer..

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My husband got a pint of blood in a hospital following a minor surgery in 1978. At that time no one had ever heard of Hep C...there was no test for it...it wasn't on the charts...Well, that little bag of blood almost cost him his life, as it was contaminated with Hep C and it began it's slow and certain destruction of his liver immediately. Over the next 25 years he would have blood draws and they would tell him he must have had Hepatitis a or b when he was younger as it had left him with elevated liver enzymes...Then in 1998 we applied for new life insurance and had to have blood work done..they had since developed a test for Hep C and sure enough his test was positive. We had no idea what that would mean...but they told us that even though he had not one symptom he would eventually be a candidate for a liver transplant...less than one year later we found that the Hep c had caused a specific kind of liver cancer to develop and still without symptoms we began the process of being evaluated for a transplant...within 8 months the cancer began growing and was threatening to spread..we had to move fast...the UNOS list for organ donation was too long and they said he would never live long enough to get the transplant. Luckily we had the internet and we left the University's office and headed home where I emailed out to all transplant centers to see what experimental things were in the works...We got an immediate answer from U of Colorado and their living donor liver transplant program...A very tricky and serious surgical procedure. It takes a living donor and splits their liver 60/40 then implants the 60% into the recipient and the donor will regrow their liver in 6 weeks to full size. Our son was our forever hero and donated his 60%...we had to go to Denver from Seattle to have it done...it almost cost our son his life...he had complications...but all in all we had a wonderful final outcome...both well and healthy...We lived in Denver for 4 months and my husband was in and out of the hospital..but that was over 7 years ago and we thank God we are so blessed.... Please get tested for Hep C and be aggressive with your follow ups...our insistence is the only reason he is still alive...they said take him home and he might live 6-18 weeks...the day before the surgery we were hiking up in the Rocky Mtns...that's how asymptomatic he was...Be good to your liver and be good to yourself...Get tested and be smart..ANy questions you have I would love to answer...