Why don't you stop by and see some young man or woman fighting to stay alive while battling these viruses? Maybe then you'll add an exciting new word to your vocabulary: kindness. You won't give me your sympathy, but you have my sympathy, Lois, for you have the worst disease of all--hate.
R.A.
Littleton
Regarding hepatitis C, it is possible to contract the disease through blood transfusions, as I did, as did many others. If you read Steve Jackson's article ("The Hep-C Generation," February 8) carefully, you will remember that they were not screening for hep C before the late Eighties. I had a series of blood transfusions in 1973 but was not aware of anything called hepatitis C until August 1993, when I was preparing for hip-replacement surgery.
University Hospital refused to accept my blood to be used for me, and me only, if I required a transfusion. The reason for this refusal was that there is margin for error, so the safest way was not to allow my blood into the hospital. Lois T., if you enter a hospital that doesn't have such a policy, you, too, could contract hep C. I was a blood donor for years without even knowing I had hep C. You, your family or many innocent people could have contracted hep C from millions of pints of untested blood. Do these people deserve not to have research done to find a cure?
It is ignorant to assume that promiscuous sex is the cause of hep C.
M. Hill
Denver
Excuse me, Lois T. It's obvious you've had no one close to you die of AIDS or hepatitis C. And when that unfortunate day comes (and it will), maybe you'll wise up and realize what we're dealing with is a "viral thing," not a "judgment thing." Case in point, Lois: The AIDS and hepatitis virus would be just as happy living in your heterosexual body as in my own homosexual body. News flash, Lois: Neither the AIDS virus nor the hepatitis C virus discriminates on the basis of color, gender or sexual orientation. So beware, Lois!
Should I be as cold as you and let you die because you had unprotected sex once or twice in your life? Or in a crazy period in your life you injected drugs? I think not. Then again, maybe I don't approve of your lifestyle, Lois.
Doug Crawford
Denver
Attention, Lois T.!! If you read the hepatitis C article, you may remember the accompanying story by Steve Jackson, "This Is Only a Test." I'm the guy who had a "false positive" test result after donating blood products at Belle Bonfils Blood Center. Since that false positive test, I've educated myself about the virus. Maybe you should educate yourself before you condemn others as evildoers. In my search for factual information on the topic (undertaken while I was not yet confirmed as a false positive and thought I could possibly have the hep C virus), I learned that most cases of the virus involve heterosexual contact between heterosexual people, not IV drug users or homosexuals.
You have no idea how devastating it was for me to think that I might have the virus. I'm very thankful I don't have it, and I learned a lot in the process. I'm not an IV drug user; I am a monogamous, heterosexual male who has tried to help my fellow inhabitants on this ball of dirt we reside upon by donating something of value--my blood.
Lois, maybe you should try educating yourself...then go out and help your neighbor instead of peeking into his windows and condemning him for being on "top"--of a list for a liver transplant. You have my sympathy.
Dennis L. Sportsman
Thornton
The complacency of Lois T.'s rationale that one's lifestyle or behavior makes one deserving of death from AIDS or hepatitis C is another fine example of the bigotry that cowards "with no last name" use. Assuming that her reasoning was meant for both gays or nongays, then she would believe that those who smoke deserve to die of lung cancer. Perhaps Lois T. also feels that those who don't use their turn signals should get into a fatal car wreck, or that a child who doesn't look both ways before crossing the street deserves to be hit and killed by a passing car. Like she said, "they all lived a dangerous lifestyle" and it's all about behavior. As a teacher, parent, husband and Christian, the only thing that I have sympathy for is God's excuse for creating such a disillusioned, pathetic hatemonger like Lois T.
Ryan Fune
Denver
