It's with great sorrow we report  that our dear friend, colleague, and one of Hep C greatest advocates, has died after a horrific battle with cancer. He's at peace now, thank God. Ed Wendt was Government Relations Director for the movement and a backbone for patients rights. He will be truly missed by many:( Through Tears Tricia May 27, 2005, 9:28PM Advocacy journalist Ed Wendt By SALATHEIA BRYANT Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle   Wendt Ed Wendt, a colorful fixture in local media for the past three decades, who unabashedly practiced advocacy journalism, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 55.  Wendt was born and raised in Hempstead but made a name for himself in Houston, bird-dogging the political elite and defending the masses. After a two-month hospital stay, he died Thursday at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center surrounded by his family, a friend and two of his beloved nurses. His sister, Rebecca Demarais of Spring, said he fought cancer like he attacked issues in his writing. "He was a warrior ... " she said. Wendt is remembered by many in Houston for his passion about such issues as civil rights and the First Amendment. Most recently, he devoted his attention to public awareness of hepatitis C, a disease he had contracted. Wendt, who was diagnosed with liver cancer, underwent a liver transplant in 2000. He remained cancer-free until the disease came back about a year ago, his sister said. In 1998, Wendt was charged with criminal trespass after he refused police orders to leave City Hall during a City Council meeting. Wendt sued the city, Mayor Lee Brown, councilman Jew Don Boney and two Houston Police Department officers alleging that he was wrongfully arrested because Brown and Boney were angry about articles he'd written. Those who saw him in action recall how his fire could sometimes boil over. "He was a combative, confrontive and unpredictable guy who could be your best bud one minute and in your face the next," said Houston Chronicle editorial writer Tim Fleck. "Life around Ed was never dull." He is survived by a brother, Jack Robert Wendt of Hempstead; brother-in-law Rock Demarais and a niece and nephew. A public memorial has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Ave. The funeral will be held 10 a.m. Thursday at the Canon Funeral Home, 1420 Farr, in Waller. salatheia.bryant@chron.com

EDITOR/HCV ACTIVIST FIGHTS MYSTERY CANCER THAT BAFFLES DOCTORS

Houston Forward Times
February 8, 2005

Award-winning editor Ed Wendt is fighting a strange, mysterious cancer that even doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have been unable to completely identify.

"It's scary, said Wendt, who is undergoing radiation for the new cancer located in his lungs.

It was originally thought that the lung cancer was metastasized from liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) for which Wendt underwent a successful liver transplant at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital on Janury 14, 2000. But there is doubt about exactly what kind of cancer has developed in Wendt's right and left lungs.

Four biopsies since November 2003 have failed to specifically identify the cancer and are inconsluvise. Results merely say the cancer "favors" or "resembles" the old hepatocellular carcinoma. But some doctors have serius doubts.

For one thing, a blood test that is an indicator for hepatocellur carcinoma remains normal one year after the new cancer on Wendt's lungs was discovered by doctors at the Houston VA Medical Center. When Wendt was awaiting his liver transplant, the Alpha Feto Protein (AFP) level was over 35,000. It is now under 0.6, which is normal range.

There are other suspicious factors, including the failure of a chemotherapy (Xeloda) that worked for the liver cancer before the transplant, but failed for a new round last March against the new lung cancer.

Wendt developed hepatocellular carcinoma during his decade-long battle with the deadly Hepatitis C virus.

"This is just another one of those baffling things we have to consider with Hepatitis C," says Wendt, one of the nation's leading Hepatitis C adtivists. "You never know what to expect next."

Wendt says he hopes MD Anderson will eventually "get an accurate reading" of the kind of cancer that is ravaging his lungs. In the meantime, in an attempt to control the cancer, doctors at MD Anderson are treating him with radiation.

"It is really scary," Wendt repeated. "The unknown is always frightening, but especially with cancer."

"Whether this is a totally new, primary lung cancer, or metastasized liver cancer is really something we need to know," says Wendt. "I am not giving up the fight and would like to know what I am up against.

Wendt was given six months to live when originally diagnosed with liver cancer at the VA Medical Center in 1998. Doctors at MD Anderson placed him on a new chemotherapy that managed the cancer until he could get the transplant. He was cancer free following the transplant, for over four years, until the cancer was found on his lungs in November 2003.

"I am a fighter," said Wendt, "and I would like to know the name of the enemy."

Wendt was the Houston Press Club's 1998 Print Journalist of the year, and was presented the award the year he was first diagnosed with cancer. He is an appointee to the City of Houston Hepatitis C Task Force and Hepatitis C Movement for Awareness' s Texas representative.

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