Dame Anita Roddick’s daughter has broken her silence about her mother’s death as a result of a contaminated blood transfusion she received while giving birth.
Speaking just days after Theresa May ordered an inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal, Sam Roddick, 46, said the tragedy of her mother’s illness was that she had not been diagnosed with hepatitis C until it was too late to treat the virus.
Sam, who founded the lingerie brand Coco de Mer, said: “How can you think that something as innocent as a woman going into hospital to give birth can lead to someone coming out with hepatitis C?
“My mum was one of tens of thousands of people who were basically on a Russian roulette. I was in my late thirties when she was diagnosed and she was in her sixties, and I knew it was to do with my birth. It was quite a tender subject for my mum, and I didn’t really dissect how she found out, but I know it really rested very heavily on her heart.”
At least 2,400 people in Britain, including many haemophiliacs, died from hepatitis C and Aids-related illnesses after receiving imported blood products, via the NHS, riddled with the viruses in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Much of the plasma used to make the clotting agent factor VIII, which most haemophiliacs lack, came from donors such as prisoners in America who had sold their blood.
Anita Roddick, who founded the Body Shop, contracted hepatitis C in 1971 when she was given the transfusion, but was not aware of the illness for more than 30 years. When she was eventually diagnosed, she was suffering from cirrhosis. She died in 2007 aged 64 of a brain haemorrhage, a rare complication of the disease.
It was a tragic end to a remarkable life for one of Britain’s most successful and colourful entrepreneurs. However, her case is not unique and people are still being diagnosed with hepatitis C as a result of transfusions of contaminated blood decades ago.
The prime minister announced the inquiry on Tuesday after The Sunday Times revealed that six party leaders had written a letter demanding she take action.
Sam Roddick, who describes herself as a “huge fan of the NHS”, hopes the inquiry will not only provide answers to the families who have lost loved ones, but also encourage those who may have been exposed to tainted blood to get tested for the disease.
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“The tragedy around my mum was she didn’t get diagnosed until she had cirrhosis,” Sam said. “If she had known she had hepatitis C a lot younger, she would have been able to have treatment.”
Labour MP Diana Johnson, a long-time campaigner for those affected, is to meet James Jones, the retired Church of England bishop who chaired the Hillsborough independent panel, in September to seek advice about the parameters of the blood products inquiry.
@cazjwheeler
