Pamela Anderson spent everything I had in my bank treating a fatal diagnosis she got in the 90s: I was lucky

For nearly 20 years, Pamela Anderson lived with hepatitis C.She was told the virus would kill her.“It was a death sentence.

That’s what my doctor told me — that I probably had around 10 years to live,” the “Baywatch” actress said at a fundraiser for AIDS research on Sunday.“I’m sure that colored and corrupted my decisions.It was not fear of death but fear of what might happen to my young children.

It turned my life inside out.”She was diagnosed with hepatitis C in the late 1990s, when there was no cure.In 1991, meds helped clear the disease in fewer than 10% of people.

By 2011, they were 50 to 75% effective.“I was lucky,” said Anderson.“I was offered it in its early stages, and it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it.

It wasn’t covered by insurance yet, and I felt tremendous guilt that others weren’t granted the same access.”In 2015, the actress announced she was hepatitis C free.The infection that Anderson was able to overcome is one of the most common types of liver infections in the US.While medication can cure hepatitis C in more than 95% of people, it often goes undetected.

This can lead to delayed treatment and lasting consequences.Here’s what to know.Hepatitis is a general term for inflammation of the liver, and can cause lasting liver damage over time.

There are five common viral types: A, B, C, D and E.Hepatitis C is transmitted through infected blood.Injection devices or sharp objects shared or improperly cleaned between uses can transmit hepatitis C — think needles, syringes, razors or nail clippers.Anderson said she’d contracted the disease by sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband, Tommy Lee.As many as 43% of hepatitis C cases were associated with injection drugs, according to the CDC.Parents can also pass the virus to their baby, and less commonly, the virus can spread through sex.Hepatitis is diagnosed in a two step process.

First, people are screened with a blood test that looks for antibodies...