Mana Ruru is living proof that hepatitis B can be beaten if you make good life-saving choices

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

8 Aug, 2022 05:00 AM6 mins to read

Mana Ruru was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015 as a result of hepatitis B. Photo / Supplied

Seven years ago, doctors offered Mana Ruru a choice: go on the waiting list for a liver transplant or be dead in 12 months.

Ruru had been diagnosed with liver cancer. In his case, the cancer was caused by hepatitis B.

Until his diagnosis, Ruru had no idea he was living with the life-threatening, chronic condition.

The 55-year-old wanted to share his story in the hope that his experiences will convince more New Zealanders to get their blood tested and take liver health seriously.

It comes after the World Health Organisation has called on member states to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030.

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said globally "access to prevention, testing, and treatment services for viral hepatitis remains far too low".

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, most commonly caused by viral infection. There are five main types of hepatitis: A, B, C, D and E.

Globally, one person dies from a viral hepatitis-related illness every 30 seconds.

Hepatitis B is most commonly passed on from mother to child during pregnancy or birth.

Nine out of 10 infants who are infected in this way will develop chronic hepatitis B, a potentially life-threatening liver infection that increases the risk of conditions like cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Ruru does not know how he got the virus.

"I was young. I was butch and everything like that. I had a good body on me so I didn't pay attention.

"When you are full of life you don't really notice [your health] until the damage is done."

Looking back, Ruru said the first sign that not all was well with his body was an increase in fatigue.

"I was in Australia and I started noticing my recovery time after going out with my mates and drinking alcohol was quite bad.

"I had given up a lot of drinking when I was up in Aussie, so I went out once in a red moon."

About 100,000 people in New Zealand have hepatitis B.

Ruru said he did not think much of his tiredness, excusing it as a normal part of getting older.

Then Ruru moved back to New Zealand to be the primary caregiver for his mother at their farm in Waimana.

"When you are in the city you don't do too much physical work but I got back to the farm and I was getting tired early in the day."

Ruru decided it was time to take his body for its "warrant of fitness" check. He did not pass.

"They told me I had cancer of the liver. They gave me under a year to live."

Ruru's only option for extending his life was a liver transplant. At first, Ruru refused.

"But then after I hung up the phone, I was in the garden planting kumaras. I could feel the warm sun on my face and I could hear my kids.

"They were laughing and giggling and I thought to myself, 'Far out. You will never hear your kids again'."

The father of nine will forever remember that sunny morning as an important turning point.

"I didn't want to go in the hole yet. I wasn't ready for the lights to go out."

Ruru went back to his doctor and asked if a liver transplant was still on the table.

The next few months were a rigorous process of tests and intensive counselling sessions.

"I could have died while waiting but I didn't. It took over a year before a liver was presented to me."

Ruru is now cancer-free. He has also made changes to his lifestyle.

"You start looking at what you eat, changing your regime of doing things.

"I used to like diving and going out into the bush but because I am on lifetime pills those sort of things take a backbench.

"There are good days and down days."

Ruru said Hepatitis Foundation New Zealand community health nurse Helen Purcell had gone out of her way to support him and other patients along the coast.