Veteran actor Michael de Mesa recounted how he got a second chance at life after he won his battle with Hepatitis C which lasted for nearly two decades.
In an article published on PEP.ph, de Mesa shared that he probably got the said disease when he got his ear pierced back in 1997.
According to the website of Mayo Clinic, hepatitis C is “a viral infection that causes liver inflammation, sometimes leading to serious liver damage”. Its virus “spreads through contaminated blood”.
The Health Line website added that it is transmitted when a person is exposed “to blood that contains the hepatitis C virus (HCV)” which can be transferred when someone used a syringe, needle, razors, toothbrushes, or other items that may have been contaminated by the virus.
De Mesa also has tattoos. However, he said that he’s sure the needles that were used when he got his tattoos were new since they were opened in front of him.
He also never had blood transfusion so he suspects that he really got his hepatitis C during an ear piercing session.
“The next suspect could have been manicure pedicure, that’s one possibility. So ang pinaka-suspect ko could have been in 1997 when I had my ear pierced in a mall in Texas using a staple gun.
“Minsan kasi there’s also that possibility na dumugo yung butas ng tenga mo, e. And then again, maaring ginamit sa iba, dumugo, natuyo, and then ginamit sa akin,” he said.
He then shared that he found out that he had the virus in 1999 but didn’t do anything for two years. He only decided to go under treatment in 2001.
“I was in denial. Hindi ko talaga matanggap na meron akong Hepatitis C,” he said.
However, the treatment did not made him feel any better. The veteran actor shared, “Ibang klase yun… Interferon just made me sicker. I would inject myself every other day hanggang nakahanap na ako ng routine. The effects were very high fever, I would throw up, muscle pain that would last me for 12 hours.”
He said that he had to inject the medicine in his body three times a week for three months, but he had to stop as it was already taking a toll on his body.
His parents, actors Eddie Mesa and Rosemarie Gil, then convinced him to try homeopathy.
“We would get the ingredients from the States kasi maraming hindi available dito sa Philippines. Ganun din, walang guarantee, but I still tried it for another three months hanggang sa [I realized], ‘masyado nang mahal ito, ah.’
“It was really, really getting so expensive na you’ll never know if maku-cure ka or not. I decided to [stop the treatment] since I’ve been managing it all those years. So I would have an ultrasound every six months. I would have a blood test every six months. Suwerte naman that my liver was okay, healthy pa naman, hindi pa natatamaan.
“It was this time that I had my viral count check. That time, yung machine that would read your viral count can only read up to 800,000. I could have had more. So ako sa utak ko my viral count is 800,000 plus,” he said.
Viral count refers to the “amount of actual viral particles in the bloodstream”, according to Medical News Today.
In 2014, his wife discovered a cure online which was a medication called Harvoni.
However, the price of the medication would burn a hole in anyone’s pocket since it costs $1,000 or around P54,000 per pill.
“That time, I did not know what my genotype was. I did not know if I would fall under the 12-week treatment or the 24-week treatment.
“Imagine if 24 weeks ‘tapos 1,000 dollars isa… I had to take it every day.
“Sabi ko, mamamatay na siguro ako sa kakatrabaho para magamot lang itong Hepatitis C ko.
“Again erase that, forget that, [I’ll] continue to manage it na lang, [and] try my best to live a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
When de Mesa and his wife moved back to the Philippines, it seems like things were only getting worse as his viral count shot up to 36 million from 11 million.
But his wife did not give up on him and was able to find a generic version of Harvoni which was a lot cheaper.
she found this gentleman online who got cured of the Hep C virus, so she got in touch with him.
“We communicated with him and we were talking about the generic version of Harvoni. He said, ‘Try it. Maybe you can find out what your genotype is,’ which I did. That’s when I found out that my genotype was 1A. We ordered the medicine. It was a lot cheaper. It was a 1,000 dollars for three months.
“I started treatment in November 2017. Each bottle contained 28 tablets which I took every day. After the first bottle, nagpa-blood test ulit ako, had my viral count checked again and, lo and behold, my viral count went down from 36M to 2000,” he shared.
After the shocking results, he decided to continue the medication and in the third month of the treatment, the results were undetected.
“So it was a wonderful Christmas gift for me, something that I shared with my family. It was Christmas of 2017 when I told them, I’m cured of Hepatitis C,” he said.
After getting cured of the said disease, de Mesa now spends some his time to spread awareness on hepatitis C.
