Issue Number 70
April 19, 1999
UNPROTECTED PEOPLE: Stories of people who have
suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases
Story #15:
MOTHER'S DEATH FROM HEPATITIS B MOVES DAUGHTER TO ACTION
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In May 1998, IAC EXPRESS received an e-mail from
a first-year Asian American medical student in which she shares the details of her
mother's sudden death from hepatitis B. The tragedy has motivated this student to educate
herself and her family and other Asian Americans about the risks of this
vaccine-preventable disease.
The student's e-mail, printed with her permission, is as follows:
I recently suffered an immense loss. In the middle of January of this year, my mother
experienced a sudden onset of peripheral edema and ascites. She tested negative for
hepatitis B, but the doctors said that she had either liver cancer or severe cirrhosis. In
the middle of February, a liver biopsy definitively diagnosed my mother as having
hepatocellular carcinoma. This time, her hepatitis B serology came back positive, but her
virus levels were low and nonreplicative. By the beginning of April, to the dismay of my
family and all those who knew her, my mother fell into hepatorenal syndrome. She died
while I was holding her days afterward, only two months after the diagnosis and one month
after her intended early retirement.
Being a medical student, I could not help but feel helpless as I watched my mother slip
away. What disturbed me even more was how unknowledgeable my cousins and I, all of whom
are most likely infected with the same virus, were on the topic. I am writing to you today
because I would like to stop feeling helpless. I would like to help educate my cousins,
and other Asian Americans like us, of the risk that we face. Therefore, I would greatly
appreciate it if you could inform me of the services that you provide, of the resources
that you offer, and of the projects you plan. Please let me know how I can best join your
effort, and how I can become actively involved with your organization. Thank you.
A First-Year Medical Student
Editors' Note: The Coalition sent this student a packet of our hepatitis B educational
materials and referred her to other national organizations that are involved in hepatitis
B activities in Asian Pacific Islander American communities. The Coalition's hepatitis B
educational materials for providers and patients (some available in 16 languages) can be
downloaded from our website at http://www.immunize.org. |
