Real Life Stories

Meet Jackie

"I said, well I can give up this period of time to dedicate to this treatment. You know, I worked every day, never missed a day of work."

"I remember exactly where I was when I got the phone call. She called and said, Jackie, they can't find the virus."

"I had a lot of support. I told maybe three or four key people at work what was going on, and they took care of me."

"You know, if I went back six months later and they told me it was there, that just — that would have been devastating, you know, devastating."

"This was like an invasion in my body. Something that had no business being in my body. I didn't come here with it and I wasn't gonna leave with it. That was the bottom line."

Meet Jim

"And I remember the — as long as it was — like, oh, my gosh, you know, is this time period ever gonna end? When you reach the halfway point and I'm able to start counting backwards... Twenty four, twenty three, twenty two... and it just then the momentum starts building. And, all right, now, I'm now we're there. We're there. We're gonna go on and whip this bad boy. And, boy, when it got down to one, it was boy, talk about a day for celebration, absolutely... When you finally get to the end, then you get your six month checkup to see if it, if you still are carrying the virus or if you're whippin' it, and they told me that, that it had worked. It's probably I was as elated over that as much as anything that probably I ever had been."

"And one of the best moments getting to call my kids and tell them, and that - I've had a lot of great highs in my life, and I had to say, that one probably was the cake-taker."

"And the thing that, I think, kept me going more than anything was that I kept myself busy and I tried to get even busier in my work as a, as an educator and musician. I did, and I'd do a lot of traveling and work with a lot of, with a lot of kids. And being able to keep that momentum and keep that travel schedule going, sure, physically it was tough, but, boy, mentally it was the best thing that could have happened to me because it kept my mind occupied."

"You know, my wife was there with me from the beginning. She, she probably understood more about it than I did. She got on the Internet and was, you know, my my strongest supporter throughout the whole ordeal, and being able to do the research for me and then on my behalf. You know, she was there with me from the beginning, so that, you know, that was that was half the battle."

"When I was first told that I even had the possibility, through a routine blood test, that I may have hep C, I didn't even know what it was."

"When I first found out about it, I'd seen a gastroenterologist and he wanted me to take a wait and see approach, you know... I wasn't sure I wanted to take a wait and see approach on it, it just didn't make sense to me."

"If I had to tell my kids this didn't work, I honestly don't know how I would have handled it."

Meet Johnnie

"I knew that there was something that I can do, that I could do something about, then I was gonna do it, 'cause life was important to me."

"When I realized I had gone chronic, I began to know what the consequences were, would be if I couldn't do anything, if there was no treatment out there. And that was not an option for me. I wasn't gonna — I knew I was gonna do it when it finally came down to it."

"I always wanted to stay focused forward, because if I kept looking over my shoulder, then I had nothing to look forward to. And the the last injection, the last tablets, the realization that the virus was gone was was, to me, more important than continuing to look backwards."

"I was very anxious... please, please, please let this be a positive outcome."

"I had a very supportive spouse, and that made a big difference. She made up little hearts with the date on it, like March 21 or April 1st or what have you a little heart that was on a ribbon. And so I for each week that there was an injection, I there at the last, about the last six months, I clipped off one of these little hearts. Well, I kept looking at the goal that last heart because that was the last injection. So not only did I have this, this mental outlook, I had a physical, I had a visual that I could see, that there's the last one."

Educating Yourself

The more you know about hepatitis C, the better prepared you are.

"You know, my wife was there with me from the beginning. She, she probably understood more about it than I did. She got on the Internet and was, you know, my... my strongest supporter throughout the whole ordeal, and being able to do the research for me and then... on my behalf. You know, she was there with me from the beginning, so that, you know, that was... that was half the battle." — Jim

Committing to Treatment

Taking control of your situation and staying on track.

"When I first found out about it, I'd seen a gastroenterologist and he wanted me to take a wait and see approach, you know... I wasn't sure I wanted to take a wait and see approach on it, it just didn't make sense to me." — Jim

"When I realized I had gone chronic, I began to know what the consequences were, would be if I couldn't do anything, if there was no treatment out there. And that was not an option for me. I wasn't gonna — I knew I was gonna do it when it finally came down to it." — Johnnie

"I always wanted to stay focused forward, because if I kept looking over my shoulder, then I had nothing to look forward to. And the the last injection, the last tablets, the realization that the virus was gone was... was, to me, more important than continuing to look backwards." — Johnnie

The Power of PEGINTRON®

Patients discuss their success dealing with their illness.

"I was very anxious... please, please, please let this be a positive outcome." — Johnnie

"And I remember the as long as it was like, oh, my gosh, you know, is this time period ever gonna end? When you reach the halfway point and I'm able to start counting backwards... Twenty four, twenty three, twenty two... and it just then the momentum starts building. And, all right, now, I'm now we're there. We're there. We're gonna go on and whip this bad boy. And, boy, when it got down to one, it was boy, talk about a day for celebration, absolutely... When you finally get to the end, then you get your six month checkup to see if it, if you still are carrying the virus or if you're whippin' it, and they told me that, that it had worked. It's... probably I was as elated over that as much as anything that probably I ever had been. — Jim

Your Support Network

Surrounding yourself with people who will help you through the tough times.

"I had a lot of support. I told maybe three or four key people at work what was going on, and they took care of me." — Jackie

"I had a very supportive spouse, and that made a big difference. She made up little hearts with the date on it, like March 21 or April 1st or what have you a little heart that was on a ribbon. And so I for each week that there was an injection, I there at the last, about the last six months, I clipped off one of these little hearts. Well, I kept looking at the goal that last heart because that was the last injection. So not only did I have this, this mental outlook, I had a physical, I had a visual that I could see, that there's the last one." — Johnnie

"You know, my wife was there with me from the beginning. She, she probably understood more about it than I did. She got on the Internet and was, you know, my my strongest supporter throughout the whole ordeal, and being able to do the research for me and then... on my behalf. You know, she was there with me from the beginning, so that, you know, that was... that was half the battle. — Jim

The Impact of Relapse

How it would feel to hear from my doctor that it's still in my system.

"If I had to tell my kids this didn't work, I honestly don't know how I would have handled it." — Jim

"You know, if I went back six months later and they told me it was there, that just — that would have been devastating, you know, devastating." — Jackie