‘I thought my life was over’: World Hepatitis Day sparks awareness in Saskatoon

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Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C per capita in Canada

World Hepatitis Day is on Thursday but residents in Saskatoon are looking to raise awareness all week.

“I want people to know that they can get cured but they have to get tested,” said hepatitis C survivor, Don Lesser.

He was one of the participants at a testing fair for hepatitis C at the Friendship Inn on Tuesday. It was hosted by the Saskatchewan Infectious Disease Care Network.

After four treatments, Lesser said he’s been cleared of the virus.

“I thought my life was over. I basically thought that I was a dead man, a walking dead man, but I’m here today and I’ll fight,” he said. “I want everybody else to fight because if I can do it, everybody else can do it.”

‘We don’t have a national strategy yet in Canada and that’s what we’re working hard on — to develop a national strategy right across Canada so that physicians and patients and the public are educated and understand that it’s worthwhile to just get this one test.’ – Lesley Gallagher