In September, Martin Shkreli, 32, founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals, became the most hated man in America when he hiked the price of Daraprim, a drug commonly used to treat cancer and HIV patients, from $13.50 a pill to $750. Since then, he’s been arrested for securities fraud, quit as CEO of Turing and is out on bail, facing 20 years in prison. Patrick Rice can understand the venom directed at Shkreli. He’s one of the 2,000 Americans who rely on Daraprim for their health and survival. Rice, a 32-year-old software developer in Indiana who suffers from Lyme disease, shares his story with The Post’s Dana Schuster.

Earlier this fall, I got a call from a specialty pharmacy in Michigan.

My insurance would no longer cover the cost of Daraprim, a vital medicine in my Lyme disease treatment. They said the drugs would cost me $30,000.

“Thirty thousand dollars a year?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“No, $30,000 a month,” they responded.

To make matters worse, Martin Shkreli — a bombastic pharmaceutical honcho who recently paid $2 million for an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album — was the man behind the life-saving drug’s ridiculous price hike.

When I first started taking Daraprim in 2012, the drug cost $1 a pill. Over the years, the price jumped to $13.50 (there was no generic version available). Insurance covered it.

It was one of six medicines prescribed to me by an infectious disease specialist, who finally diagnosed me with Lyme disease in 2011 after more than a decade of debilitating symptoms that included hallucinations and loss of speech.

I took two tablets of Daraprim daily for two weeks on, two weeks off and noticed a difference right away. I started feeling healthier, more energized. Daraprim was a godsend.

Last year, my doctor took me off Daraprim, but my health immediately declined. When I was represcribed the medicine, the cost increased 5,000 percent.

And the guy to blame for this mess was Shkreli, who valued money more than suffering people. Just looking at the way he carried himself as he tried to justify the cost disgusted me.

Martin went on TV in the fall and said no one would miss the drug who couldn’t afford it. But my pharmacist said I could only apply for three months worth of free pills. So when I saw that Martin was doing an Ask Me Anything forum on Reddit in October, I told him my story. Surprisingly, his account manager followed up and said I would get the drug for free, for life.

While I was thrilled, I wasn’t satisfied. I was lucky enough — and bold enough — to question Shkreli directly. But most people suffering from HIV and malaria don’t have that ability.

In late November, Turing announced that the price of the drug would drop to $375 a pill — but at hospitals only. The company said individuals earning $59,400 or less would be eligible to receive Daraprim at no cost, and most patients should be able to get it for a $10 copay. But according to a January Vice magazine profile on Shkreli, the process to access the drug for free is too complicated for very sick patients.

[A Turing rep told The Post: “We would be happy to work with any individual in understanding which program may be right for him or her.”]

Regardless of what happens with me, I hope Martin recognizes that there’s something dark about how he’s been living his life.

He has the name recognition now to make a difference and come out and say: “What I did was terrible and I’m going to do something about it and I challenge everyone to do the same.”

Because that’s a cause we can stand behind.

Click here to see Shkreli getting what he deserved when he was charged with securities fraud: