Please Jerry Take your Generic Harvoni
Two months ago Hank came to us to request treatment for his brother Jerry. They ordered their treatment a week before Thanksgiving 2016. They received the treatment the following Monday.
A little background about Jerry:
Jerry and his older brother Hank are owners of a famous BBQ joint in a small town in South Carolina. They have been so successful they opened up another BBQ joint in a neighboring town, doing equally well. Hank is the more responsible brother of the two. However, Hank is confined to a wheelchair but is very mobile to manage both restaurants. He has been concerned about his brother's hepatitis C that was diagnosed more than 25 years ago. Hank had been on Jerry to get on the treatment and be hepatitis C free ever since Harvoni came out. Of course Jerry's insurance didn't cover it, even after 4 attempts (sound familiar). So, Hank did all the leg work locating SoulofHealing.org and went through their Patient Assistance Program setup by pharmaceutical companies. They were denied there as well. Hank, nor did Jerry, have $180,000 sitting around for the 24 week treatment of Harvoni. Hank was referred to SunnyPharma.info to get the subsidized generic version of Harvoni from us. Which we obliged.
Birat, our patient outreach coordinator calls up Jerry to get an update on how the treatment was going. To his amazement he found Jerry did not start his treatment at all. Jerry said he will start soon after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Birat called up Jerry on January 4th to find out Jerry still has not started treatment.
Unfortunately, Birat got furious over this and immediately called Jerry's brother Hank to find out what the hell (pardon our French) is going on.
Hank informs Birat, Jerry has not been doing anything other than partying 24/7 with his friends at the local taverns. Hank sadly expressed his concerns that "I'm in a wheelchair and I can't be chasing my brother around to take his meds when he's out all hours of the night getting drunk and womanizing." Birat, the most mild mannered HCV advocate completely lost his control. Melissa, the head honcho, receives a call at 2 am Pacific Standard Time to hear Birat expressing his concern and asking for guidance on how to get Jerry started on his treatment.
Melissa's Two Cents
Melissa has been around the block a few times, she asked Birat to scare the expletive out of Jerry to take his meds. Birat called his doctor and informed his staff to immediately call Jerry to start his treatment or he will be hospitalized due to his fibroscan reading. Unfortunately that tactic did not work.
Birat racking his brain to figure how can I get my patient to start his treatment before the generic Harvoni expires. That was is it, the expiration date. He sternly rings up Jerry and frankly tells him you only have 7 months left before your treatment expires. If you don't, you will have spent almost $4,000 on treatment that will be flushed down the toilet. Immediately, Jerry reacted and asked how much time do I have? Birat, you have less than 4 weeks to start your treatment.
Birat will call up Jerry again in a bout 4 weeks to see if Jerry started his treatment.
We have consulted 100's of patients that have hepatitis C and all of them have followed through treatment with a T and come out viral load free.
We will not let Jerry slip through our fingers, we will be on him like white on rice to make sure he follows through.
We don't have any other option other than success for ALL of our patients to be hepatitis C. Perhaps we're a little tough because we have heard and seen too much over the years and what hepatitis C has done to our families and communities. We have a golden opportunity to rid the world of this awful disease, lets do it.
For all those of you hesitant to start treatment because of lifestyle changes or worried about side effects, you can do it. You can get through this, so many around the world have, now its your turn.
Jason Hienley
HCV Advocate
http://www.sunnypharma.info
http://www.soulofhealing.org
