IN THEIR OWN WORDS, HOW PATIENTS’ LIVES HAVE BEEN TORN APART

Each time I shut my eyes I saw a coffin

MICHELLE Tolley was exposed to dangerous blood products during what should have been a life-affirming moment – childbirth.

The 53-year-old Norfolk mother haemorrhaged in 1987 after the birth of her first child and needed four units of blood. It was followed by a second transfusion in 1991.

Mrs Tolley, one of many who gave an emotional video account in footage played to the inquiry, said: ‘We will fast-forward to 2015 when I was extremely ill – extremely, extremely ill. I was working at the time and I had lost an awful lot of weight for no apparent reason.

‘I was with a new GP… so he tested me and within a few days I got a telephone call, in November 2015, telling me I was positive for hepatitis C.

‘There are no words to describe that feeling, because every time I shut my eyes, I was looking at a coffin and I was sure in my mind I was going to die.’

Devastated to find out I had HIV at 14

CAMPAIGNER Mark Ward was just 14 when he found out he had HIV after being given contaminated blood at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London.

His video testimony revealed how he had been receiving tainted blood for more than a decade. ‘I was diagnosed at three years old with severe haemophilia, and therefore that is when the treatment started, so from that very first injection... that’s when the infections began, so from the word go’, he said.

‘With the contaminated blood scandal, I don’t know where I fit into society…the downside of that is that you are constantly being judged, constantly trying to prove yourself, and within the family unit, it has destroyed us.’

Doctors said the 49-yearold was unlikely to reach his 18th birthday. ‘We’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told I am going to die. Every time I don’t die, it’s, “oh well”.

Husband’s diagnosis ruined our marriage

ONE widow revealed how her husband John, who was a severe haemophiliac, died of Aids in 1994, while also suffering from hepatitis C.

‘I feel we have been treated very badly’, she said. ‘Nobody has listened to us over the years, it is like knocking on a door and it never opening.’

The woman, who did not give her name, said the diagnosis meant the pair were unable to continue their careers or the relationship they had previously. ‘It completely changed our lives, our marriage became very different. We became brother and sister, there was no marital relationship. We had to give up the idea of any more children, my husband didn’t want to kiss me or even touch me.

‘He had his own things to eat and drink off... and eventually we both had to give up work. I had to give up teaching to look after him, so life was very, very difficult.’