SALEM Hepatitis C puts drummer on the sidelines

Effortless is slated to play in Elkton on Jan. 31 without Bill Strait.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
SALEM -- The small room on the second floor of Bill Strait's West Seventh Street home is cluttered with musical instruments, microphones and speaker wires. In the front are a few stools and an acoustic guitar resting in a stand; amplifiers are stacked in the corners.
Near the middle sits a black drum kit.
"It's the backbone, it's the real center of attention," Strait said of the drums.
The drums have been Strait's passion for 33 years. It's a passion that was passed down from his grandfather, a former big-band drummer, and that led him to his wife, whom he met after a show.
"He's a very good drummer," said Bill Lucas, Strait's brother-in-law and the bassist in his band, Effortless. "He's respected by a lot of musicians."
This year, however, Strait has been forced to watch as substitute drummers sit behind his drums each week and practice with Effortless.
Strait hasn't had the energy to play since January, when he suffered a head injury at work that interrupted his treatment for hepatitis C, a virus that attacks his liver. He's also been on sick leave from his full-time job as a machinist while he recovers.
"I'm anxious. I want to do things, but I can't," Strait said. "I know I can't play a show. What's going to happen if I'm up there and I pass out on stage?"
Effortless is slated to play a show with a substitute drummer Jan. 31 at the Empty Glass in Elkton.
Virus characteristics
Hepatitis C corrodes the liver and can cause fatigue, nausea, joint pain and other health problems that can last a lifetime. Between 4 million and 5 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C; less than 3 percent of cases are fatal.
The virus is spread when blood or body fluids from an infected person enter another person's body. It's a different strain of the virus that causes hepatitis A, which has infected more than 500 people and killed three people in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania in recent weeks.
Strait said his infection has strained his family life, and he worries about transmitting the virus to loved ones. He said he isn't sure how he contracted the hepatitis C virus. He was diagnosed in March 2002 after he went to his doctor complaining of pain in his abdomen and chest.
The diagnosis caused Strait to ask, "Why me?" He felt his family had already been forced to deal with their share of medical problems, as his wife had battled breast cancer in 1997. Her cancer is now in remission.
Strait also found that because of how hepatitis C is transmitted, it carries a social stigma similar to the stigma that surrounds AIDS. He said some of his friends stopped calling and paying him visits at his home after they learned he was infected.
"When a situation like this comes, you really find out who your friends are," he said.
After he was diagnosed, Strait began a treatment that called for him to take four pills a day while also taking an injection in his abdomen once a week. The injections would give him flulike symptoms and night sweats.
"The treatment is hell," Strait said.
Despite his feelings of sickness and exhaustion, Strait managed to continue to play the drums. He also practiced for fun with Mike Taylor, who was learning to play guitar.
Late last year, Strait called Lucas and guitarist Dave Coleman and asked them to come to the practice sessions with Taylor. Lucas had been in musical retirement for 25 years; Coleman had been retired for 10 years.
Strait told them he wanted to form a band focused on having fun.
"We're not doing it for the money, we're not doing it to get rich, we're not doing it to become another Rolling Stones," Taylor said.
Coleman added, "We were going to have fun; that was our No. 1 rule."
Strait noted that he believed he had an obligation to tell his new band mates that he had hepatitis C. Coleman and Lucas both said they knew little about hepatitis C before they found out Strait had the virus.
The members of Effortless said they now know they have little chance of contracting the virus from Strait. Taylor also stressed that Strait's health comes before the future of the band.
Strait said he's grateful for the support from his band mates.
"My band right now is the closest friends I have. They are my family," he said. "They've really helped me deal with this."
Break in treatment
As Strait continued his treatment, Effortless played their brand of Southern and classic rock at a few shows, including a concert New Year's Eve.
"We were working away, and things were getting better and sounding good," Lucas said.
Eight days after the New Year's Eve show, Strait passed out while at work and hit his head on a container. He broke several bones in his face and needed 68 stitches.
Strait's doctors also told him he needed to stop his treatment for hepatitis C out of concern that it could have a negative reaction with drugs he was taking to recover from the accident. He said he isn't sure what caused him to pass out, but he doesn't think it was hepatitis.
When he stopped the treatment and tried to recover from the accident, Strait found he didn't have the energy to play drums. He's trying herbal remedies to treat the hepatitis and hoping doctors develop a "miracle cure" for the virus.
"I have no choice. I've exhausted my resources," he said.
The other members of Effortless noted that it's been tough for them to practice without their founding drummer. They also remain optimistic that Strait will be able to return to the drums.
"I don't really see a finality to this," Taylor said. "I think eventually he's going to be better."