Mark Melancon finds cure and wants to help others
Soon after donating blood, Mark Melancon of Boutte got a letter from the blood center with the devastating news that he had hepatitis c virus.
This was 25 years ago.
There was no cure for this virus at the time, leaving Melancon to carry on with his life in any way possible despite extreme fatigue, anemia and losing hair, as well as worrying about it advancing to cirrhosis of the liver and possibly cancer.
“It kind of hung over my head like a death sentence,” he said. “You have this black cloud and you have this something inside that is progressing, and there’s no real hope for a treatment much less a cure. It affects your personal life, relationships and overall outlook on life. This thing is going to kill me one day.”
As a pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, Melancon sought to help others to try to restore balance in a life bound to incurable disease.
“I made peace and did everything I could in life to try to stay as healthy as good and help as many people as I could at work,” he said.
Melancon also led a healthy life, which included no drinking or drugs. From a spiritual standpoint, he chose nursing because he was intent on his own personal condition not preventing him from doing good for others.
In time, he started to see the early stages of cirrhosis.“I lost hope, especially after the initial diagnosis,” he said. “I tried the first treatment and when that failed I lost more hope, and then I said, ‘I’ve got to pull myself together.’ I’d lost hope of a cure definitely, but I had not given up on life.”
It was a challenging choice for Melancon because this treatment, taken about 13 years ago, had been brutal with side effects such as having flu-like symptoms and it didn’t work. He was devastated and sunk lower into depression.
When a new drug came available called Harvoni last year, he wasn’t interested in suffering that way again, but his doctor and girlfriend, also a doctor, encouraged him to try it and he finally agreed.
Initially, he didn’t see a difference. By the fourth week of the 12-week treatment, however, hepatitis c didn’t show up in the tests anymore. It stayed gone in the tests that have followed nearly 8 months later.
“I got down on my knees and cried in the doctor’s office,” he said of continuing to thank everyone for the cure, including the drug company, Gilead, that made the drug. He called the drug a godsend.“That was my first response.”
Since the diagnosis, all Melancon wants to do is tell others that there is a cure for hepatitis c, especially when he worries others might pass on the drug for the same reason he almost did. He is overwhelmed with gratitude, and wants everyone to know how much the cure has changed his life.
Nearly three million Americans have this virus, a potentially life-threatening condition that also has been linked to lymphoma, diabetes, thyroid disease, mixed cryoglobulinemia (a condition where the blood contains large amounts of protein) and kidney disease.
If Melancon had not been told he had the virus, it was possible that it would have not been diagnosed and could have resulted in liver damage years later. It is often referred to as a “silent disease” because it typically has no noticeable symptoms.
The cure has been a life chager for him.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Melancon, now 47, fighting back tears about his recovery. “Definitely, there’s a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Physically, I have more energy. If I go for a ride or walk, I just feel physically healthy.”With the disease gone, his liver is expected to heal from cirrhosis.
Mentally, he is recovering, too.
He is into jogging, spending time outdoors and growing vegetables in his garden.
“It’s a godsend to have that hope and be cured,” he said. “Now, I feel a responsibility to help other people.”
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