Loving Joe Gallucci: A memoir of life with the Hepatitis C Virus

Nevada RNformation, Aug 2004 by Genovese, Kate

Love between a man and a woman is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and spiritual exchanges between two human beings. It is also one of the most tragic, particularly when alcohol, drugs, dysfunctional families, and a life-threatening liver disease are thrown into the mix. LOVING JOE GALLUCCI is one such love affair. It is the poignant romantic tale of Meg Flaherty, daughter of an eminent Massachusetts senator, and Jimmy Romano, a blue-collar boy always trying to prove himself to the imperious Flaherty clan. Taking place over a period of thirty years, the novel chronicles the tumultuous courtship and marriage of the couple as they progress from heavy drinkers and IV drug users to sober and respectable members of their community who must nonetheless pay the price for the reckless acts of their younger years. When Jimmy reaches middle age, he goes to the doctors one day and discovers that he has Hepatitis C, a deadly inflammation of the liver caused by an HCV virus that drug users often get through needle use. Now, with a family and a wife whose fidelity to and love for him are extraordinary, Jimmy is forced to fight the last and biggest battle of his life, or else die a death caused by the destructive demons of a past he thought he'd conquered many years before.

More than anything, LOVING JOE GALLUCCI is a story of redemption and resurrection of the Romano family through the triumph over adversity, and through faith, hope, and unconditional love. In its final analysis, this book is a call to arms against a liver disease so subtle and yet so damaging that it could perhaps be called the AIDS epidemic of the twenty-first century.

By Kate Genovese, RN