We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do. ~Anonymous

Wouldn’t it be great if we could call on a superhero to help us eliminate hepatitis C? Sometimes the burden seems so huge. If you have cirrhosis or other healthy problem, this burden increases in weight. Fatigue, body aches, depression, and brain fog hang on us like hundred pound weights. We know we are supposed to exercise, eat right, and avoid alcohol. In fact, we are “supposed” to be pretty much perfect when it comes to our health, but practicing good health habits is easier said than done.

However, even though it isn’t easy practice healthy habits, it also isn’t easy being sick. Both are difficult, but striving for health pays off.

On a flight, I sat next to a woman who was the picture of health. She displayed the buffed body of a 20 or 30-year-old athlete. I was shocked to learn that she is a grandmother. When she took off her sweater, I noticed a tattoo of Batman on her shoulder, and I asked the story. Chris told me her story of lifelong obesity. Upon turning 50, she made a dramatic change, started exercising, and lost more than 140 lbs. The tattoo camouflaged a shoulder surgery scar. Why Batman? It’s a reminder to be your own hero.

Although Chris isn’t coping with a hepatitis C diagnosis, she is coping with a lifelong medical problem, one that could have killed her. She found a way to be her own hero. She also inspired me to work out as soon as I checked in to my hotel. That’s what superheroes do—they inspire us to be our own heroes.

You can be a hero in your life, even with hepatitis C. We all are faced with the same 24 hours in which we must decide what to eat, how much sitting we are going to do, and what our attitude is going to be. Are you going to be like my committed fellow airplane companion Chris, who made a decision to start exercising despite carrying the weight of another entire human being on her bones? Or are you going to let hepatitis C run the show, dictating your future, your pain, and the length of your precious life? Batman or hepatitis C—who is going to win—the superhero or the virus?  

We can also use our superpowers to eliminate hepatitis C. Together we make a difference.

What superpower do you think will help us eliminate hepatitis C? Tweet @hepatitismag so we can use the superpower of social media.