connor

Connor contracted hepatitis C after he shared a needle to take drugs. He found out he had tested positive for the virus during his time in prison. He shares his experience with us in the hope of helping others.

I am Connor, I am 23 years old and I have been to prison twice.

Before I came to prison, I was in a full-time job as a builder. My favourite activities were riding my bike and chilling with my girlfriend. I was a normal teenager.

As time went on, I fell in with bad company and started using drugs. When I started, I was hiding this from the people close to me but they eventually found out.

Growing up, I had been in care and I only met my mum a few years ago. I started injecting drugs after we met. My mum had hepatitis C. She didn’t tell me even though she knew. I caught hepatitis C when we shared a needle when we were shooting up.

I didn’t know that I had the virus until I came to prison and was given a blood-borne virus (BBV) test. This first test showed that I had tested positive for antibodies. This meant that I had hepatitis C at some point and that another test was needed to see if I still had it.

When the nurse told me my results I was shocked. She asked me if I knew how I caught it and I told her I had shared a needle.

Since then I have found out that most, but not all, cases of hepatitis C are caught from sharing not just needles but other equipment used to take drugs too.

I thought I had all my vaccines when I was a child, but the nurse told me there are no vaccines for hepatitis C.

My heart sank. I thought I was going to die.

I had a second blood test and urine test completed while I waited to find out if I still had hepatitis C. During this time I felt dizzy, hot and cold, and had stomach problems.

When these results came back, it was confirmed that I was still living with the virus.

I thought that I wouldn’t be allowed any treatment because of my past drug use. When I raised my concerns with the nurse, I was told that drug users can get treatment for hepatitis C too.

I commenced treatment. I had to take a simple course of medication, three tablets a day for 12 weeks (some people only need to take one tablet a day but everyone’s treatment is different and it depends on what medication the health care professionals decide will be best for you).

I hoped and prayed that this would work as I wanted to have a chance at life and to build relationships. This course of tablets had a 97% chance of curing my hepatitis C.

Once the 12 weeks were up, I had another blood test. I was buzzing for my results as I knew I had a high chance of being cured. The test came back negative. I had managed to clear the virus.

The nurse warned me that just because I had the virus once, I could still catch it again. You have to be really careful to avoid blood-to-blood contact with other people so you have to make sure that you do not share razors and toothbrushes with other people in prison. If you inject drugs, you also need to make sure you use clean equipment every time.

At my prison, they are really good about educating people and making sure we are tested every six months. The more people know about hepatitis C, the easier it is for us to look after ourselves.