Mexico City, Mexico

Diagnosed With Hep C in 1998

On December 8, 1982, I had an ectopic pregnancy. Although I survived, I lost the baby. In 1998, my doctor told me that I had been infected with hepatitis B and C because of the medical interventions surrounding the pregnancy. I started treatment with interferon and ribavirin a year later. After 14 months, the results showed that the treatment hadn’t worked. Three years later, we started pegylated interferon and ribavirin. After only four months, it looked like it was going to work, which it in fact did. It’s been 12 years and a lot of checkups, but the dragon was killed.

I’m much older, so there are many new ailments, but none like that. Sure, I struggle with stuff, but for a 67-year-old person with my medical history, you could say it’s quite impossible to believe I look as healthy as I do. Thanks to my doctors, my family and friends, I learned many great lessons in life.

 

What three adjectives best describe you?

Stubbornness, sense of humor and love of life.

What is your greatest achievement?

Surviving.

What is your greatest regret?

Not being able to reach more people to give them my support and confidence.

What keeps you up at night?

A good book.

If you could change one thing about living with viral hepatitis, what would it be?

Knowing about what I was going to go through beforehand.

What is the best advice you ever received?

Keep fighting.

What person in the viral hepatitis community do you most admire?

My physicians in Mexico, David Kershenobich, MD and Dr. Ruben Drijanski, MD.

What drives you to do what you do?

My parents’ teachings and my faith.

What is your motto?

You’re still alive—keep fighting.

If you had to evacuate your house immediately, what is the one thing you would grab on the way out?

My passport and, of course, my husband.

If you could be any animal, what would you be? And why?

A dog. One of the factors in keeping me going has always been my dogs. When I was feeling really down, they would stay by my side, and their trust and love were a great support.