Posted on 01/13/2009 1:55:48 PM PST by Coleus
Stephen Balsamo felt like his body was on an assembly line. He and his fellow recruits lined up back-to-belly at the Fort Dix clinic that day in 1973 and, as they filed by, the men were given a half-dozen shots in each arm with a device called a jet gun injector. The 54-year-old Boonton man thought little of it at the time. The gantlet was just another thing to endure at the start of a three-year hitch in the Army.
But Balsamo is now convinced that was the day the Army exposed him to tainted blood and infected him with the hepatitis C virus that now destroys his liver bit by bit each day. His medical records show a transplant may be his only hope. Yet Balsamo is learning that help from the government is far from guaranteed. And the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.
"When I put my right hand up, they said they'd take care of me if something happened," he said. "Now I'm sick from something they did, and they're saying they might not be able to help. It's disgusting." The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently told Balsamo he must prove his condition is "service-related" to qualify for treatment in its health care system or to receive disability benefits.
Although privacy regulations prohibit VA officials from commenting on specific cases, it's clear Balsamo faces an uphill battle. The VA's policy guidance is blunt: "Getting service-connection for (hepatitis C) is difficult. Most people cannot prove that they got HCV during their military service."
Those words drive Harry Hook crazy. The 61-year-old Vietnam veteran from Salem County is the manager of HCVets.com, a national clearinghouse for information about hepatitis C for veterans. "The claims process is quite horrendous," Hook said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
If he was infected, so were others standing in line and that is something which can be determined.
I had the same stew of shots injected the same way in 1983. I did not end up with hepatitis C. Just saying.
Prayers for Stephen Balsamo
The usual route? I got my Hep C in my teens before blood was screened. From a blood transfusion! I didn't even know I had it until I tried to give blood in 1982 & was told I had non A non B Hep. There wasn't even a C back then. You can get Hep C many ways & not just from drug use or sex.
Certain specialized risks have also been identified - such as manicures, shared toothbrushes, or straight razors in barber shops.
http://www.epidemic.org/theFacts/hepatitisC/transmission/
That's what used to be thought of Hep. B. I'd never engaged in the behaviors associated with Hep. B yet I got it. Likely in a hospital.
Uh huh. I don’t know HOW I got it. Risk factors included blood transfusion and a stint in the healthcare industry with direct patient contact [before everyone started wearing latex]....
To this day, it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.
I had the same assembly line jet injector shots in Fort Dix in 1958.Everyone after him in line would have gotten it as well.
Whats the chance he had R&R in Thailand ?
And truely appaling the number of firefighters (20% of the Philedelphia Fire Department), Police Officers and Health Care workers that are infected (and get treated like junkies).
Yes it is. And according to my gastro dr not everyone exposed to Hep C will get it. So much is still not known or understood about the virus.
I had them all in 1971. No hep C. But was scared as hell!
I understand (??) that the pneumatic shot giver was developed in part at Ft. Totten, NY in the 50’s and early 60’s. One of its faults is that it spread fluid among recipients.
Lucky for us the gun was broke that day so they had to use needles. I made up my mind not to faint if it was the last thing I ever did. Many were betting on me to be the one. Did feel dizzy for a few seconds but that passed. The biggest guy in our flight, everyone's "hero", was the one who fainted.
My sister, an R.N., died of HepC five years ago. She had been in nursing since the 1970's and likely got infected on the job. She didn't know she had it - maybe that's why it's called 'The Silent Killer'.
And, yes, she was treated like a junkie by the staff at Ocala Regional Medical Center as she laid dying.
“To this day, it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.”
Yep, I had it and that’s when I learned how many ways you can get it. I’m so sorry for him. The treatment isn’t any fun AT ALL.
Interferion is rat poison, Ribovirin isn't much better.
Much better to have a liver transplant.
6 weeks after the transplant, you feel relatively normal.
With combo therapy you feel like DEATH for a year or more!
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