Posted: 8-May-2007 << BACK
When Gemma Peppe needed a subject for her MA in documentary research, she decided to use her own battle with the potentially fatal liver condition hepatitis C.
She hoped it would be an opportunity to raise awareness about the condition, which is thought to affect up to 500,000 people in the UK - 10 times more than those with HIV. She also wanted to learn more about her condition, and the treatment options available to her.
Gemma attracted the support of the Hepatitis C Trust and the Community Channel, and her film became a documentary of her treatment over a year - and how it affected her 14-year-old son Louie. Now 'Louie, me and hepatitis C' - a documentary narrated by Gemma and including her video diary - is being used to educate the public and medical professionals.
Gemma, a single parent, aged 40 from London, first became sick in the late 1980's following drug use. She became weak and jaundiced and spent months in hospital. But at the time there was no test for the disease and Gemma was told she had non-specific hepatitis. None of the medical professionals she saw seemed to know much about it, and as Gemma grew stronger she forgot about her liver problems and got on with her job in the music industry.
But then she started to feel tired and have unexplained illnesses. Tests were ordered and in January 2002 she was told she had hepatitis C. "I did not know about hep C and my doctor did not either. "He just said he was sure I would be fine. But when I told some people about what I had they said 'you can die from that'." Gemma says she was terrified. "The fear was physical, I could feel it coursing through my veins."
Research
So Gemma embarked on her own research. She found that her ill health could continue, get worse and eventually kill her so she looked into having a treatment that, if successful, could rid her body of hepatitis C.
In the film she said: "I felt that, at my age, I'm too young to resign myself to a life of not working, or just working part time. I don't feel, for me, this is a full life. This is just half a life that I'm living. It really swayed my decision. It made me think 'I've got to give it a go'."
So she decided to embark on the Pegasys, or pegylated interferon, treatment - a version of a naturally occurring molecule - and chronicles her progress in her film. Gemma says: "The treatment was very like chemotherapy and by the end I was so debilitated that I could hardly leave the house." She endured appalling side effects - exhaustion, flu-like symptoms, raging hormones and thinning hair. In the film her son Louie agrees that it had been an ordeal: "You've done well. You've been annoying, you've been horrible at times...but you've done well." To continue reading the story click here
