Colin Smith: 7-year-old died of HIV after transfusion of infected blood, inquiry hears
Parents say they faced barrage of abuse including graffiti daubed on walls and hoax calls following son's diagnosis
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Your support makes all the difference.A boy was diagnosed with HIV after being treated with contaminated blood products and died at the age of seven, his parents told an inquiry.
The parents of Colin Smith, who had haemophilia, spoke about the abuse the family faced following his diagnosis as the Infected Blood Inquiry continued in Cardiff on Wednesday.
Parents Colin and Janet were told in the hospital corridor their son had been infected with HIV when he was two years old.
He died five years later in 1990.
They told the nationwide inquiry about the barrage of abuse they suffered including graffiti daubed on their walls and hoax calls after news got out locally about their son’s diagnosis, the BBC reported.
The inquiry is examining the disaster that has killed thousands of people given blood products or transfusions over three decades between the 1970s and 1990s, using blood given by prisoners and addicts infected with HIV, hepatitis or other viruses in a paid scheme.
Mr and Ms Smith, of Newport, Wales, said the Aids awareness TV advertising campaign at the time also had a “devastating” impact on their family.
Mr Smith said he lost his job after the diagnosis because his boss was scared he would lose customers.
“We started getting ‘Aids – dead’ written on the house, not little letters, 6ft-high letters on the side of the house,” he added.
The Smiths told the inquiry that they “need justice” and are still “angry” about events which led to Colin’s death.
Ms Smith added: “We want people to make sure people know it was children taken away. It took lives, maimed people, crippled with such horrible things.
“We need justice. We need something done about this. It’s just so wrong and I get really angry about it.
“We feel maybe we’re getting somewhere for the first time in all these years.”
Nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of the contaminated blood scandal, with more than 25,000 feared to have been infected, inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff has said.
It is regarded as the NHS’ worst ever treatment disaster.
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