Today, My Life Changed Forever

It's pretty astonishing to think about it, and I'm still attempting to process the real scope of things surrounding the past year of my life.

On January 21st, 2014 I began a journey that would ultimately change my life forever, I treated my Hepatitis C with a new breakthrough drug called Sovaldi. Rapidly within 4 weeks of therapy, my virus went undetected, indicating that treatment was working and I was on my way to 20 more weeks of medication, lab work, doctor visits and a plethora of side effects. By the end of treatment on July 7th, 2014, I was still undetected and on my way to hopes of a possible cure.

My infectious disease doctor told me treating with Sovaldi and Ribavirin, I stood an astounding 94% chance of being cured even co-infected with HIV.

Having previously treated with much more toxic and brutal drugs in 2006, this new therapy was a breath of fresh air, but also had it's own mess of side effects. But in the end, the side effects weren't severe, and I powered through treatment like a iron arrow going through the heart of a dragon. Not just any dragon, the king of all dragons, Hepatitis.

The results are in today January 12th, 2015, 6 months post treatment, and officially I can say I am cured of Hepatitis C once and for all. My dragon has been slain, and my life is forever changed. I'm still sitting here processing the events of the past 24 hours of my life after getting this spectacular news. Sovaldi truly works, and the words cure and HepC can now be uttered in the same breath with confidence. Click on the graphic to see the lab work for yourself.

As I pause in this time of reflecting, evaluation and focusing on God more, I am truly humbled by the events of the past year of my life. Never again will I lie sleepless in my bed pondering my own fate. No more weeping in the pillow of my own mortality, and the fate of my beloved wife. To never fathom again the thought of liver transplant, end stage liver disease, cirrhosis or liver cancer is for the lack of better terms, new.

But, I can't forget to give credit where credit is rightfully due. If it wasn't for my persistent faith in Jesus Christ, my surrounding band of brothers and church family, my amazing wife and the endless sacrifices of my parents, none of this would be possible today. Thanks to my caregiver Dr. Katherine Smith for treating me, and lastly to Michael J. Sofia who developed this new miracle drug called Sovaldi.

My blogs will continue, as this is just the beginning of a new era for myself and I Strive 2 Thrive. I am working on a new video documentary as we speak, and I hope to share it with you hopefully by Spring of this year. Forever grateful, eternally humbled and delightfully changed, thanks to everyone who has been a part of this amazing journey with me the past year.

In His Holy and Blessed Name,
Joe Burke (I Strive 2 Thrive)

A New Dawn

The labs are in for my 3 month post treatment, and remarkably, I'm still undetected! I can't begin to tell you how enthralled I am at the power of these new wave of Hepatitis C drugs; They work!

The proof of seeing cure in black and white is surreal, almost like I'm living a dream in a fantasy world that I never want to wake up from. But of course, it's not fantasy, it's reality and I'm living the life I only dreamed of as a teenager.

Never to worry about liver transplants, end-stage liver disease and all the horrific complications that come from chronic Hepatitis C. It's as if God Himself waved His hand over my life and gave me a second chance to thrive.

My liver is also showing signs of healing, as various levels like platelets, alkaline phosphatase are resolving. My alkaline phosphatase at 6 weeks post treatment was 177, now down to 153 with a normal range of 119. ALT, AST, bilirubin, albumin, HGB, HCT are all now normal range and have been since the 4th week of treatment.

With the healing of my liver and the second chance on life, it's now time to fix the damage of living with Hemophilia for over 30 years. On Thursday October 16th, I went in for X-rays of my bad right knee. What the doctors saw on the scans (shown to the right) left them speechless. They realistically didn't understand how I was able to even walk or move the knee as good as I did.

The cushion space as shown in the normal leg are unremarkable, while my target joint right knee is all deformed with barnacle like bone structures and literally bone on bone grinding. No wonder I suffer from chronic pain.

Within the next 4 months, I will be seeking a full knee replacement and rebuilding my body since my liver is now healed. My goal, by the time I'm 40 is to have all my injured joints fixed or replaced and push my body to limits never imagined before. I want to compete as an athlete in cycling and running competitions. They say 40 is the new 20, so we'll see! My orthopedic appointment is set for October 27th, 1PM, and I'll be sure to blog the post visit information here on this web site.

On October 10th, oddly enough my wedding anniversary, the FDA approved yet another Gilead Sciences behemoth that is boasting up to 94-99% cure rates for Genotype 1 Hepatitis C patients.

The future is here. Gilead have now combined Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and the newer formulated drug Ledipasvir.

Harvoni is a daily pill that includes Gilead’s NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir plus the company’s nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir. The latter drug was approved in December 2013 under the brand name Sovaldi, which quickly became a blockbuster. As some of you may or may not know, Sovaldi is the drug that cured yours truly.

The future is here, the Dragon Slayer nation rises! Makes me wonder how far away we are from an HIV cure? Months? Years? With my cured healing liver, a possible repaired physical body, all we need now is a cure for HIV, and AIDS will officially be no more.

Finally, here is a song I wrote in 2010 on my second album called "A New Dawn." Little did I know 4 years later, that title would have a lot more significance to me. Hope you enjoy the song, and if you like my music, head over to my iTunes, Amazon or Spotify pages for a listen.

Day 92, 12 Week Lab Work Just In!

Click Lab Image to view larger version.

Well, "proof is in the pudding" as they say. I went in for my 12 week HCV viral load check and sure enough, it's undetected just like at week 4! I got the results today from my routine 12 week visit to my doctor, and I must also report that my immunity is at it's highest since I've been keeping lab records. Proof that Sovaldi is working, proof that the virus is gone, my system is rebounding after years of fighting and dragon slaying, and now these bones can thrive! Everything on my labs came back amazing, AST & ALT were all normal. Officially going into week 13 of treatment, almost into week 14, it's amazing to look back at these blog posts at the road I've traveled the past 12 weeks to get here to this point. How amazing the times we're living in where the were HepC and Cure can now be uttered in the same sentence with assurance and confidence. Again, this is not my story, it's God's hand undermining this entire therapy. I'm just a vessel for His testimony and message, and I can't wait to end therapy and share with the world my story of being cured!