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For 28 years, Lance Gibson was completely oblivious to the deadly disease lurking inside him, wreaking havoc on his body.
The 52-year-old married father of two says the disease would have continued to go unchecked if he hadn’t decided to retire from the Canadian Forces in December 2008.
After undergoing a medical test at CFB Borden – a routine exam all military members have before leaving service – doctors noticed something wasn’t right.
“When they got my blood work back, it showed I had low platelets,” he said, adding tests also revealed his spleen was enlarged due to a blood flow issue to his liver.
At his next medical appointment in January, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Nothing could have prepared him for that.