Patient Stories

This story is about my husband with alcoholic related cirrhosis of the liver. We don’t know when my husband developed the first stage of liver disease.

I fell into End Stage Liver Disease (ESLD) from having Hepatitis C for over 30 years. I was unaware I even had Hep C for the first 19 years and got it from a blood transfusion.

By telling my story to others, I am reminded how fortunate I am. My story is a long one, but I am happy to say, as of 2015, I am finally Hepatitis C free with 100% liver function!

“I am a sixty years young grandmother of two. I was recently cured of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection which I contracted through a medical procedure before my seventeenth birthday in 1971.

She could not have anticipated just how rapidly—over the following eight weeks—a potentially lethal form of liver disease would turn her entire family’s life upside down.

After a colonoscopy and a liver biopsy, it was determined that I had Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis(PSC) and Ulcerative Colitis.

Greg was scheduled for surgery. However, a CT scan indicated liver cancer, cirrhosis, and a blood clot on his portal vein that was immediately life threatening.

After tests, it was diagnosed that I had Autoimmune Hepatitis (a chronic disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the liver and causes inflammation and liver damage).

My new doctor at UPMC scheduled me for a liver biopsy the week after my first appointment, and soon enough, I was officially diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis.

Two years ago I couldn’t catch my breath. Five days later I went home with a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. I brought this on myself with drinking too much over a long period of time.

It was also the year I contracted Hepatitis C following a blood transfusion as a result of a postpartum hemorrhage. Unlike most, I did experience an acute phase of Hepatitis with abdominal pain, loss of appetite and jaundice.

I currently take care of my 77 year old mother who has had cirrhosis for over 10 years and has frequent bouts of HE. What complicates matter is the fact that she also has diabetes.