A HAEMOPHILIAC infected with HIV after being given contaminated blood transfusions has finally received an apology from the Government after decades of campaigning.

Mark Ward, 45, from Peacehaven, was one of thousands of people across the UK infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C during the 1970s and 1980s – a scandal dubbed the “worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS”.

Many of the 7,000 people infected have suffered years of illness and distress after mistakenly being given blood products taken from high-risk donors such as prostitutes and prisoners in the US.

A number of deaths have also been attributed to the scandal.

Yesterday Mr Ward and thousands of other sufferers finally heard from David Cameron, who apologised during Prime Minister’s Questions on behalf of the British Government.

The Prime Minister also confirmed £25million of funding to improve financial support for patients who were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV.

It comes after the publication of a comprehensive six-year, multi-million pound inquiry set up by the Scottish Government to investigate what went wrong. Yesterday’s report described the saga as “the stuff of nightmares”.

The probe, chaired by Lord Penrose, concluded “few matters could have been done differently”.

He made only one recommendation – that anyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before 1991 should be tested for Hepatitis C if they have not already done so.

Mr Ward told The Argus that he and fellow campaigners were disappointed with the report’s findings as it did not go far enough in its recommendations. Some campaigners branded the report a “cover-up”.

He said: “I was so looking forward to saying: ‘Right, we have what we asked for, achieved what we wanted, and now I can start looking forward to the rest of my life,’ because the last decade of my life I’ve been looking backwards, constantly, at the death, the destruction.

“The £25million is a drop in the ocean but from what I understand it’s a transitional payment whilst the government gets other things sorted out.

“It’s like an interim payment so the people who are in desperate poverty, very sick and struggling will get extra financial assistance.”

Mr Ward, who contracted HIV after being given contaminated blood at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead when he was 14, added: “I’m glad I was in London instead of Edinburgh when the report was officially published because all hell is breaking loose up there with other campaigners.

“They are disappointed. We were expecting more – not money – but more from a report that we’ve waited six years for.”

In a written statement, UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Whilst it will be for the next government to consider all of Lord Penrose’s findings, I would hope and fully expect proposals for improving the current complex payment system to be brought forward, with other UK health departments.”

'32 years over my expiry date': Mark speaks to BEN LEO after his trip to the House of Commons

MARK Ward, a haemophiliac, contracted HIV after being given contaminated blood at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead when he was 14.

Doctors said he would not reach his 18th birthday but, at 45-years-old, Mark went to London yesterday to hear David Cameron’s apology at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Mark, from Peacehaven, told The Argus he had watched friends “drop like flies” over the years as they succumbed to their illnesses.

Detailing his remarkable story since his first HIV diagnosis, he said: “I was 14 and I had a knee operation and after six weeks of being in hospital we were leaving to go home.

“But then one of the sisters popped up a hatch and shouted across the waiting room: ‘Do you want to know the HIV results?’ “My family and I said yes, but we didn’t even know what it was back then. I remember the sister just said: ‘Positive, see you next time’ and that was it.

“We went back a week later to have my knee checked and that’s when the doctor told me not to tell anybody because they couldn’t guarantee our safety. Life was never the same again after that.”

Mark endured a “vile” childhood as a haemophiliac at school, with no friends to confide in about his condition and no support from inexperienced teachers who “did not know what to do with me”.

“I was the school freak because I was the first haemophiliac to go to a ‘normal school’ in Hertfordshire. They were learning from me.

“I was always different. When the boys were doing metal and woodwork they put me in with the girls who were doing home economics and needlework – just so I didn’t risk injuring myself because of my haemophilia.”

Mark’s torment at school ended when he turned 16 and secured himself a dream job at British Airways.

But his illness was never far away, eventually proving the catalyst for him losing his job ten years later.

“I was working as ground staff at Gatwick and living my dream, truly. I was flying around the world on jumbo jets and all sorts.

“I started at BA straight from school, aged 16 in 1985. But in 1995 I was very, very ill.

“I was taking time off and began panicking and making excuses to work, telling them my boiler broke or whatever – just anything not to tell them. In the end I had to.

“That’s when I got called into the office and given an ultimatum of ill-health retirement or get sacked.

“My life fell apart. It was worse than the diagnoses. People had told me all my life that I’d never work with aeroplanes as they’d never look at someone like me.

“There was no enthusiasm because actually they thought I was going to be dead soon so what’s the point in talking about it.

“I ignored them, carried on and got there and had a fabulous career. Despite my diagnosis I was making the best of it.

“Then it was all taken away. Literally within a month of finishing at BA they took me into hospital and ripped my teeth out because the Hepatitis C was making my teeth crumble.

“I lost my smile, in more ways than one.”

Ten years ago Mark began campaigning with Tainted Blood – a British group appealing for justice for people infected and affected by contaminated blood.

As well as dealing with his own health problems, he has watched his friends die one-by-one over the years.

He said “You form relationships but you don’t want to do that because they’re going to die, or I’m going to die and leave them.

“We were dying at a rate of one a month at one point. I lost my two oldest haemophiliac friends, they were brothers, within six months of each other, back in 2010.

“I’ve got a friend at the moment who is also so ill that he couldn’t do a radio interview today. Hearing this news today with Penrose, I don’t know if he’ll be strong enough to take it.

“As for me, some days I wake up and think: ‘Oh god, I’ve woken up again.’

“Thirty years ago they said you ‘might be dead within five years’. But here I am – 32 years over my expiry date.

“But because of the side effects from all the medication, I could say goodbye to you in five minutes’ time, have a massive heart attack and die.

“The medication I take has caused my cholesterol to go off the scale, I have kidney failure and all sorts - I’m not a well person.

“And that’s on top of my haemophilia. My mental health has suffered greatly too. I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

“I don’t like being in crowds very often because it frightens me and the nightmares I have are horrible. They involve the people who played a part in destroying my life and I feel I’m being laughed at.”

Recalling friendships with fellow infected haemophiliacs, he added: “I went to see Kylie last year in concert with my friend Ade, who I met through the campaign. It was a dream to finally see her.

“She was wicked and wonderful and I loved it.

“But when you get home, you take your tablets before bed and you’re reminded that you might die and it might never happen again.

“And it’s so sad because every single part of your life you have that. Even on my wedding day I was reminded when I had to take my tablets.”

Mark now lives in Peacehaven with his civil partner Richard and their pet dog Xena. He credits them with keeping him alive.

He said: “I love my dog Xena so much.

“Because I have to take her out, I take painkillers that would put an elephant to sleep.

“But she makes me get up every single day and go out and keep going, as does Richard my partner. And that’s all I have to live for.

“I have my parents too, my mum is my friend as well and I have love in my life.

“I’m fearful for the future. I wish things were different but I think I’ve cried so much and looked deeply into myself that I now think everything happens for a reason.

“I’m not religious but I think perhaps I’m here for a purpose – maybe to help other people, to be the voice for the little boys lost and those who haven’t got a voice, those who aren’t well enough.”

Too late for most victims: Argus health reporter SIOBHAN RYAN gives her analysis on the Penrose Report

THE apology from David Cameron in the Commons yesterday was a long time coming for the thousands of people across the UK who have been suffering for decades.

However it comes too late for the many victims who did not live long enough to hear it.

Although the Penrose Report focused on what happened in Scotland, its findings are significant for all those affected by the scandal as the events took place before devolution and under a Westminster government.

Patients, many of whom had haemophilia, became infected with Hepatitis C and HIV from the contaminated blood and blood products which should have been helping to treat their condition.

Donations of blood and blood products had come made from a variety of groups, including prisoners in American jails who had given blood for money which was then sold on to the NHS in Britain.

In the early 1980s a warning was given to the Department of Health to ban US imports of blood clotting agents but this was not followed up, helping to contribute to the disaster that followed.

Although the £25million Mr Cameron has announced is obviously important, for many it is not just about the money.

It is about getting official recognition and acknowledgement that mistakes had been made and an apology given.

Campaigners have been demanding a probe into the tragedy since the 1990s when details of the scale of what had happened emerged.

Yesterday’s developments are a big step in the right direction but there is still a way to go.

In the long term, the most fundamental thing is to ensure lessons have been learned and something like this never happens again.