About this item
Until recently, hepatitis C - which infects 170 million people throughout the world - was always fatal. But today there is finally a remarkable cure.Elizabeth Rains describes how she was likely infected with hepatitis C during her wild hippie days, how she was diagnosed more than four decades later, and how she became one of the early patients to be cured, including the obstacles she encountered in gaining access to the $100,000 drugs. She describes the symptoms - and non-symptoms - of hep c, the stigma that still accompanies a diagnosis, the grueling interferon treatments that many hep C patients have had to undergo, and the new antivirals that have exploded onto the pharmaceutical market and that provide a cure but at a tremendously high price.Because most people who have hepatitis C have no idea they harbor the disease, Rains' riveting account will compel readers to get tested for this silent killer.
About the Author
Elizabeth Rains is the author of two non-fiction books, Demon in My Blood and The Vancouver Parents Survival Guide. She has been a reporter for the Vancouver Sun and an editor for several magazines. She currently writes a column for the Coast Reporter newspaper.
Elizabeth was editorial director and publisher of Pacific Rim Magazine for 14 years and also served as managing editor of The Capilano Review. She has twice been president of the Magazine Association of B.C. She freelances as a writer, editor and publishing consultant. She speaks frequently at industry events.
She holds a master's degree in journalism from Carleton University. She has won the Dr. M. Sheila O'Connell Prize for Children's Literature, the Christoph Halens' award for environmental writing, and the B.C. & Yukon Community Newspapers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism. Her specialty is writing memoir and profiles that she knits into socially significant topics.
Elizabeth lives with her husband on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia near a ferry dock. If you arrive at the Langdale terminal in the warmer months, you may see her kayaking by.
