Seventy guests file out from the wedding of Chrissy Davis and John Semple at Truro's register office, Cornwall. As they gather for photographs it is obvious that many of the guests are not a picture of health: some are gaunt; some have yellow complexions; and about a dozen have some hair missing. This is because 60 of them have hepatitis C. They have poorly functioning livers and are on treatments that can cause hair loss.

Chrissy and John got to know each other through an internet chat site for people with the condition. The wedding guests are also “heppers”, members of the site. The best man, Clive Kirby, had a liver transplant seven weeks ago.

“As hep C brought John and I together, we thought what better day to get married than Hepatitis C World Awareness Day [last Monday],” says Chrissy, a 50-year-old mother of three. “On our wedding gift list we just asked everyone to tell at least one person about hep C; for us, that's the best wedding present ever.” After the photographs, Chrissy and John, a 54-year-old antiques dealer, board a vintage bus with their family and friends and travel to the centre of Truro, where they hand out 1,000 hepatitis C awareness leaflets. “This is our honeymoon,” says Chrissy.

Hepatitis C, the condition contracted by the Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick, is a blood-borne virus that can cause significant damage to the liver, lymphatic system, immune system and brain. Half a million people carry the virus in the UK, yet only 50,000 have had their condition diagnosed because the symptoms of the disease, often dubbed the silent killer, can take up to 30 years to appear.

The virus can be caught through unscreened blood transfusions, medical treatment with unsterilised equipment, sexual contact, using infected needles, and any other means by which the blood of one person comes into contact with another.

“There's still a stigma attached to hep C, yet there shouldn't be,” says Chrissy, who caught it in 1980 after she was given a blood transfusion following the birth of her third child, her daughter Tatum. She was living in Düsseldorf at the time and blood donations in most of Western Europe before the early 1990s were unchecked for the virus. She lived with the virus unknowingly for 20 years until she felt as though she was hungover for four days, so she went to see her GP.

“I'd been abroad to Cyprus a few weeks previously,” says Chrissy. “So my GP ran hepatitis blood tests. A week later she told me that I had hepatitis C. I didn't know what it was. When she explained, I was shocked.”

Chrissy learnt that although there are drugs that can cure the condition, they often have unpleasant side-effects, with four out of five experiencing fatigue, rashes, depression, hair loss and sight problems. Her GP gave her the details of a consultant to call, so that she could start her treatment. “But as I felt better the next day I kept putting off calling the number,” says Chrissy. “That was a massive mistake. I ended up with six years' worth of extra liver damage.”

There was a 50 per cent chance of success

In 2006 Chrissy had back pain caused by running. She went to hospital and ticked the hepatitis C box in a routine health questionnaire. Within an hour she was whisked off for a liver biopsy that showed that her organ was damaged by three on a scale of six. She started treatment a few weeks later, but was warned that she had only a 50 per cent chance of clearing her hepatitis C as she had what doctors call “geno 1b”, a mutation that was hard to clear.

“I was scared by now,” says Chrissy, “because I had contacted others on hep C chat-sites who were going through treatment and having appalling side-effects. I was convinced that life was going to come to a stop.” But she was fortunate in that she suffered only slight hair loss. After three months of treatment she found herself having regular online chats with another hepper called John, who lived about 35 miles away. “John had just been diagnosed and was about to start treatment,” says Chrissy. “He's not sure how he got his virus although he has snorted cocaine with people; it can spread this way as users don't notice traces of blood on the rolled banknotes they share. In effect, they can be snorting up the virus. He asked if we could meet as he wanted to see someone on treatment; some chat-up line I thought! We met for coffee, I talked him into coming to a hep C support group and everything progressed from there.”

John started his treatment in September 2006, but it failed. He is starting a 72-week treatment session next month. Chrissy has just learnt that she is cured of the virus. However, to prevent John reinfecting her, if he spills any blood, from shaving for instance, they bleach the area. “Other than that we're a normal couple. It was just that hep C that brought us together; that's our silver lining with this virus.”

Heppers chat-site: www.hepcforum.co.uk

What is it? Hepatitis C was discovered in the 1980s, a new blood-borne virus affecting the liver that was not hepatitis A or B. A blood-screening test was developed in 1991. The virus damages the liver, causing cirrhosis, liver cancer or liver failure.

How is it spread? It can be passed on through sharing needles, toothbrushes, towels, razors and sometimes through sex, if blood is involved. Many doctors recommend condoms.

What are the symptoms? Fatigue, liver pain, digestive problems, concentration difficulties and flu-like feelings.

What's the cure? A combination of two drugs, interferon and ribavirin, taken for six or 12 months, clears the virus in half of those treated, and can slow the progression of liver damage.

Contact The Hepatitis C Trust, London SE1. Helpline: 0845 2234424; www.hepCtrust.org.uk

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