Swindon man shares story for Hepatitis C campaign

A man from Swindon has shared his story of how he overcame hepatitis C, as he helps to support a national campaign.

Kelvin Marshall had no idea he had the virus until he became seriously ill and was admitted to hospital.

Kelvin ended up needing a liver transplant. He believes he'd been living with the virus for more than 30 years.

Listen to his story here:

The I'm Worth campaign hopes to empower people living with hepatitis to access care and services.

Hepatitis C is a virus that can infect the liver. If left untreated, it can sometimes cause serious and life-threatening damage.

According to the NHS, the infection can be spread in the following ways:

• Sharing unsterilised needles – particularly needles used to inject recreational drugs.

• Sharing razors or toothbrushes.

• From a pregnant woman to her unborn baby.

• Through unprotected sex – although this is very rare.

Stigma stops thousands of people with hepatitis C accessing care in England. The campaign aims to highlight that it doesn’t matter how someone catches hepatitis C, only that they get treated.

Hepatitis C affects around 214,000 people in the UK and half of those are unaware they have it.