She lived with hepatitis C for decades after a liver transplant

Catherine Kuhnfield woke up from a three-week coma with her parents at the 33-year-old bedside.

You received a liver transplant, They told her.

It was 1987. She remembers having trouble breathing. Neighbors called 911 and doctors said the weekend shouldn’t be over without a transplant.

“I really thought I wasn’t going to live,” Kuhnfield said. “I wasn’t confident.”

She received an anonymous donor liver within 24 hours. She spent another three months in the hospital learning how to walk again. But her trials weren’t over.

Three years later, she tested positive for the newly discovered disease, hepatitis C.

“To be honest, it was pretty scary,” said Kuhnfield. “I had no control, my body was in control of this, and there was nothing I could do to change it.”

She spent the next half of her life in the clinic, managing her new condition. A 67-year-old Manatee County retiree shares her story with the arrival of World Hepatitis Day, noting that Florida is working to increase hepatitis C.

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World Hepatitis Day is held on July 28th each year to raise awareness of liver-inflaming conditions. There are several types, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D, and hepatitis E, but chronic hepatitis C is the main cause of liver transplantation.

Hepatitis C virus spreads through contact with contaminated blood. Decades ago, it could be spread by organ transplants and blood transfusionsAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, it is most commonly transmitted by sharing needles.

Symptoms include fatigue, bleeding and bruising, and dark urine.

The disease progresses slowly. More than half of people with hepatitis do not know they have hepatitis. Ministry of Health and Social Welfare..

“Many people infected in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s haven’t really had problems until the last decade,” said Dr. Christopher Albers, a hepatologist in the Tampa Comprehensive Medical Group. “It’s a very slow process.”

Some immune systems can defeat hepatitis C. However, according to the Florida Department of Health, 70-85% of people who develop a chronic infection can suffer from cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer.

In the United States, an estimated 2.4 million people are infected with hepatitis C. According to state data, approximately 20,000 cases were reported in Florida in 2019.

The condition is rising. According to the state, 558 cases were reported in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 24 percent compared to the same period last year.

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Kuhnfield said he felt lost after learning about his diagnosis.

“There was no internet to pull up” What is hepatitis C? What about my symptoms? What about the risks? “She said. “I remember being afraid of what this meant for my new transplanted liver, and the more information I got about it, the more I felt sick.”

Her liver problems were not diagnosed before the transplant. She receives 84 units of blood during surgery and wonders if that’s the way she contracted it.

Kuhnfield had to decide whether to receive the current treatment at the time, a one-year regimen of weekly interferon shots. She saw a close friend experience the mental and physical difficulties of the treatment, losing her hair and making her bones brittle.

Her friend healed, but “I don’t want to do that,” Kuhnfield said. She chose to wait for new antivirals to become available. She also lived healthier and had the right diet and exercise.

Some difficulties she couldn’t avoid. One day at the salon she limited her condition to a beautician. She was looking for someone to talk about it. Her hairdresser told her to cut off her hair in shock and take her “fleshed hair head” away, Kuhnfield said.

She became cautious and stopped sharing lunch and drinks with others. She kept her condition secret. She didn’t want anyone around her to sign it.

The exercise was her exit. In aerobics classes, she can exercise and interact in remote locations. In 1996 she traveled to a winter world transplant game in the French Alps and skied for the US team (but she needed lessons). ..

He lived in Maine while she was in Connecticut. They shared a phone call about a health journey and met again in Utah for a US porting game. She swam and he competed in athletics.

“He knew what my life was like,” said Catherine Kuhnfield. “I didn’t have to worry if I could talk to that person.”

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Her condition began to deteriorate in her mid-50s. She was tired and her finger hurt. Her work was so much that her doctor suggested that she apply for a disability at the age of 57.

The couple married in 1998 and moved to Naples in 2011. Three years later, antivirals are finally available. According to her, the three-month dosing cost $ 80,000, but her insurance covered it.

She took one tablet daily for three months and after living with hepatitis C for over 20 years, hepatitis C was cured. Now married, retired and healed, they live in Lakewood Ranch and have traveled to places such as Australia, Europe and the Galapagos Islands.

But there are still difficulties. Although she was vaccinated with COVID-19, a person in her condition may still be at serious risk if infected with the coronavirus. As the delta variant spreads, the couple decided not to take the chance.

“We got stuck again,” she said, “as if she had no vaccine at all.”

It did not change her advice to hepatitis C patients.

“Don’t get your illness,” Kuhnfield said. “Do as much as you can, live as much as you can, and use your life. Enjoy.”

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World Hepatitis Day: Take the test.

The Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County offers free hepatitis tests at these locations Wednesday from 8:30 am to noon. No reservation required. For more information, please contact us at 727-824-6932.

• St. Petersburg Health Department, 205 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.
• Piniella Park Health Department, 6350 76th Ave. N

We also offer metro inclusive health Free hepatitis and HIV testing Reservation required. Call 727-321-3854 to make an appointment. Clinics are located in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Tampa and New Port Richey.