It is possible to treat people <18 with DAAs but as they are only approved for people over 18 there is an extensive discussion required.

It has been done before. Here is the journey of a 15 yo boy who was treated.

http://fixhepc.com/forum/patient-stories/311-young-j-the-dragon-slayer.html

Welcome Boo – what a great sister you are

I’m so happy that you have found this site. It will be a great support for you and your brother over the next while.
I have just come to the end of my treatment. It was a bit of a longer treatment process for me but I have been cleared of the virus for quite a few months now and it’s all looking good for the future. There are so many of us here who are living breathing examples of the ability to clear this virus with DAAs relatively quickly, with speedy access and without the dreadful side effects of interferon. A lot of us followed the story of our 15 year old friend posted here by Dr Freeman and we were overjoyed that it had such a happy ending. So there is no question that your brother can go on to live without Hep C.

I have two sons. The blood tests for my oldest son showed that at some time he had HepC but managed to clear it himself which does happen. I would have passed it on to him at birth and it is indeed a shit hand! We’ll continue to monitor him but if things change I have every confidence in the new medication.

There is no better person to have in your corner than Dr Freeman but you will see that in so many of the posts. He has been my Dr throughout my treatment despite the fact that I live at the other end of Australia to him. You can make an appointment with him and talk to him via Skype through GP2U which is an online medical service in Australia. This is one very good option.

So keep asking questions and doing your research. We’ll be keeping an eye out for you!

Welcome Sara!

Fixed the link.

Hi Boocock,

I am sorry to read your post regarding your brother, but am pleased to also able to offer hope in that you are in the best placed for independent expert advise.

I am UK based and am now thankfully clear of HepC thanks to FixHepC’s Dr Freeman and his partners Monkmed – To whom I am forever grateful.

My own experience of the NHS was that they set you an appointment for a few months time saying something like ‘we are hopeful we may be able to treat’ etc Rather ambiguous. I decided not to wait as I was feeling ill and getting nowhere. The lack of a definite start date or even year, caused added stress and I didn’t feel at all supported by my NHS team at that time.

As others here have said, I would book an online or telephone appointment with Dr Freeman to get an independent, unbiased opinion. There are also many more medicines available to the ones the NHS can offer and I believe the advise from Dr F superior to NHS advise as the latter are restricted by budget and bureacracy.

You may well get an offer of treatment here for your brother, but I would still advise Dr F’s second opinion as to the best options as back up, if not the best course of action to help him back to good health. My story is an unusual one one. If I had been treated by NHS I would have surely failed the treatment as I was one of a small % to have a slow response and would not have been offered the treatment duration or medicines that finally cleared the virus for me.

I feel it’s always best to know all your options and therefore make an informed decision as to which path to take. If you take the NHS route, they may restrict recommended treatment length, so you can add a top-up IF needed. (as I did) . I strongly feel this is something that needs to be shared.

I don’t see any need whatsoever in these times to accept a treatment plan that involves Interferon, Are they still actually using this? I do hope not.

Anyway, rest assured, you are in the right place to get the very best independent advise possible and the support of a really genuine and caring community too. If accessing the medicines this way, my opinion is, it is essential you do so through a tried and trusted supply chain that also offers medical support and advise throughout treatment as they do here. Personally, I also would go for licensed generic medicines as the best option too, (although others here may have a different view on that) which FixHepC have access to.

I do hope I’m not bombarding you with info, it is a compkex disease and I wish you all the very best for getting your brother the treatment he needs and if I can be of any advise re NHS please feel welcome to PM me (unofficial as yet) patient advocate for UK patients seeking treatment via the generic route.

Warm wishes, LG.