RAISING AWARENESS: Pedaling with a purpose

Cross-country ride to raise money for virus research

This spring, 38-year-old Las Vegan Dino Raiser plans to take the ride of his life.

He'll ride a bicycle, he says, all the way from Atlantic City, N.J., to San Diego -- about 3,000 miles -- raising awareness and research money for the hepatitis C virus along the way.

He's calling it the Ride for Life Campaign and is vowing to finish, no matter what. The trip will be both a personal and very public journey for Raiser, who was diagnosed with hepatitis C -- a disease that attacks the liver -- about three years ago while living in Australia. He estimates he had been unknowingly carrying the virus for 18 to 20 years.

"I was shocked," he said. "I didn't even know what (hepatitis C) was. Was I going to die? I was terrified."

Because of the disease, Raiser is suffering from advanced cirrhosis of the liver.

"Hepatitis C doesn't kill you," he said. "What it does to your liver is the problem."

Raiser says the damage to his liver was already so profound when he was diagnosed that doctors gave him only about two years to live.

"I found out about it a little too late, like most people do," he said.

But Raiser says he doesn't feel like he's on borrowed time.

"I can't beat myself," he said. "If my mind is beat, then the rest of me is beat."

The hepatitis C virus can be contracted when blood or bodily fluids from an infected person enters the body of an uninfected person. According to the National Center for Infectious Diseases, hepatitis C is most often spread through the sharing of needles when injecting illegal drugs. The disease also can be spread through blood transfusions and organ transplants performed before 1992 or, rarely, by having sex with an infected partner. Eighty percent of infected persons have no signs or symptoms.

"The myth that bothers me the most is that (hepatitis C) is only a disease among IV drug users," said Bob Barone, an infectious disease psychotherapist at Community Counseling Center, one of Raiser's "Ride for Life" sponsors.

"One of the highest risks is among IV drug users, but most people who have the disease are not," Barone said. "Most people I see contracted it prior to 1992 through some kind of surgical procedure."

Raiser says he doesn't know how he contracted the disease.

"I have tattoos, a lot of piercings and I've lived all over the world," he said. "It's really hard to say."

Raiser had initially planned to take his bike trip this winter, but wasn't well enough.

"I didn't know my immune system was down," he said. "I've been real sick the last couple of months. I'm just getting over pneumonia today."

So he rescheduled the trip for May.

"I'm going to go regardless of my health," he said.

Raiser also needed time to raise money for the cross-country journey.

"We need money for a bike and materials," he said. "After that, we're going to take pledges, so many miles per dollar. A hundred percent of that will go to the American Liver Foundation. I'm not going to beat the disease by riding. I'm going to buy myself time until a cure comes out."

Barone says Raiser's Ride for Life is important because many people don't know that hepatitis C is a major epidemic.

"About five times as many people have hepatitis C in this country as have HIV," he said. "But you're never going to get an exact figure because a lot of people are walking around who don't know they have it. So that may even be a conservative estimate."

Barone also has post-trip plans for Raiser.

"When he finishes this venture," he said, "we're going to start a prevention and education program. Hopefully, we'll be able to go around and speak about the disease. Knowledge is about the only weapon we have right now."

Raiser currently lives near Buffalo Drive and Cheyenne Avenue and has a 4-year-old daughter.

For more information about his Ride for Life Campaign, visit www.2003ad.net or call 813-5458.


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