South Philly Review

Sheila Kendall smiles with such eagerness and laughs with such passion that one might suspect she lacks any cares. Since 1995, however, the Pennsport resident has carried a plethora of troubles, combating the effects of hepatitis C. As the disease has attacked her liver, it has wrought no damage on her resolve.

Since last Friday, she has been displaying her grit by conducting a lemonade fundraiser in front of the Superfresh, 1851 S. Columbus Blvd. Along with friend Jennifer Leonard, Kendall, East Moyamensing Avenue and Reed Street, peddles the drink to benefit the work of the American Liver Foundation’s Delaware Valley chapter. She and Leonard, of the 700 block of Porter Street, are offering the refreshment— $1 for a small or $2 for a large— from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Aug. 31.  Their goal for the 11-day venture is to provide people with awareness of the most common chronic blood borne infection in the United States. For Kendall, it’s another exclamation of her will.

“My strength comes from my spirit. My spirit drives me,” she said during the fundraiser’s kickoff.

All of the proceeds will go to the America Liver Association, now in its 34th year of operation.

Donning a hat that matched the hue of her commodity, Kendall chatted about the pride with which she makes the drink and the joy with which she greets every day.

“I buy 20 pounds of lemons and five pounds of sugar,” she said of enjoying one of her favorite pastimes. “Sometimes making the lemonade keeps me from going to bed until 5 a.m.”

When she wakes, she does so with the intent not to let her illness destroy her appreciation for her chance at being a “beacon of hope.”

“I am a soldier on the move for hep-C causes,” she said while passing a drawing of her and her three grandchildren that says “Love Never Fails But Our Bodies Do. Get the Facts.”

Those facts include that hepatitis C, according to a Sept. 2009 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health Services, plagues more than four million in the United States and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expect hepatitis C related deaths related to the disease double or triple in the next 15 to 20 years.

Injection drug use constitutes 60 percent of U.S. cases, according to the CDC, with 15 percent of cases attributable to sexual exposure to the virus.

Though Kendall said the behavior from her youth was not model, her contracting of the disease is a result of a 1991 blood transfusion. According to the CDC, transfusions account for 10 percent of U.S. infections and before ’92, no reliable screening process for hepatitis C was available. Kendall said not enough attention goes toward educating people.

“It’s funny how God answers prayers,” she said of her last huge fundraiser, a 2005 event through the Philadelphia Fire Department.

To pull it off, she had to contact numerous agencies and hotels before her message won favor.

“My situation back then reminds me of what the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph went through when trying to find a place for her to give birth to Jesus,” she said.

Even today she encounters negation more often than affirmation, attributing stigmas around her malady to her difficulty in teaching.

“Why does it take a celebrity coming down with a disease to draw attention to it?” she asked as Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” served as the welcoming tune for her customers.

To those with whom she most interacts, Kendall has become a mini-celebrity.

“She takes care of others before she takes care of herself,” Leonard said of her friend, who has upped her vegetable intake, eliminated coffee and cut back on salt to ease her pain. “Sheila always wants to help.”

Her body, however, is not always able
to help.