First Nations woman hopes personal story will encourage others to get hepatitis testing – APTN News
May 11, 2022
A woman from Kainai Nation in Treaty 7 in Alberta says she hopes that telling her story will encourage more people to get tested for hepatitis.
“You don’t want to get tested because you know the person who is going to test you, the stigma behind that,” Mercedes Russell says. “That’s why I think I stand up now. In the beginning, I was hesitant but I think the more and more that I accepted that I had Hep C, I think I can be an advocate, especially for my people.
“Because a lot of my friends are still using. A lot of them are dead.”
Russell says she began using drugs at 17 and eventually contracted Hepatitis C.
Now 29, Russell is four years sober and hepatitis free thanks to advanced viral drug therapy.
