Vicky Fenton and Dr Alexander Grimson
As the Love Your Liver roadshow hits the streets of the UK health correspondent Rachel Allen finds out why liver disease – one of the UK’s biggest killers – is rising each year.
THE biggest misconception of liver disease (cirrhosis) is that it is automatically associated with alcohol abuse.
Of course alcohol is the biggest culprit – accounting for 35 per cent of all cases – but it can also develop from hepatitis viruses (25 per cent of all cases), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is linked to obesity (20 per cent), autoimmune liver diseases (10 per cent) and genetic disorders and other rare causes, also 10 per cent.
Obesity is the other big offender – something which people often forget about despite the number of health problems it leads to.
In a bid to combat the rising numbers of cirrhosis cases, which lead to 4,000 deaths a year, The British Liver trust has launched a Love Your Liver Campaign for January – the first of its kind.
Dr Alexander Gimson is a consultant physician and hepatologist at the Liver Unit at Addenbrooke’s and he’s keen to emphasise the importance of taking care of your liver.
He said: “Cirrhosis is the name given by doctors to a certain pattern of scarring within the liver which eventually damages the liver’s functions, which progressively fail over a number of years and may eventually be fatal.
“Compared to most other major conditions like heart disease and cancer, liver disease continues to be a major cause of death in this country.
“It’s increasing, whereas the number of people dying from heart disease and cancer is getting less and less.
“Also, deaths from liver disease continue to rise in this country in contrast to reductions in Europe.
“People need to be aware that obesity causes liver disease, not just alcohol abuse.
“Obesity is prevalent in about one in five of the population and that can be associated with diabetes and, less well known, with cirrhosis.”
And some people are afflicted with liver disease due to rare genetic conditions – like Vicky Fenton.
The 34-year-old mother-of-two was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an autoimmune liver disease, as a child.
In autoimmune diseases the patient’s own immune system starts to attack their organs – in some cases the liver, resulting in inflammation and eventually cirrhosis.
She said: “It’s quite rare and more common in middle-aged men but I was critically ill when I was just 12 before I was diagnosed.
“I became really tired and got really itchy skin, which is one of the main symptoms, and I went quite yellow as well.
“I was put in isolation in Addenbrooke’s because doctors didn’t know what it was, as it was so rare.
“It was Dr Gimson who diagnosed me and has treated me ever since.
“They put me on loads of different sorts of medication at the time and gave me lots of blood transfusion and told me that one day I would need a transplant.
“I was well for years after that really. They told me I might not have children but I went on to have two daughters.
“I only went into hospital a couple of times but when I hit 30 my health started to deteriorate and I was getting more and more tired.
“I’m quite an energetic, vibrant person but I was just tired all the time.”
Vicky was put on the organ donor list in September 2010 and had a 70 per cent chance of dying within a year.
Dr Gimson said: “Everyone who goes on the transplant list has a 0 per cent chance of surviving five years without one. Some will die in the first year.”
Vicky, of Cambridge, said: “I couldn’t receive the initial liver that I was offered in December 2010 as I had started to show signs of pneumonia. It was quite difficult because I was really ill and you usually only get one chance to get a donor organ.
“It’s a really strange time, you are always waiting for the phone to ring but you are scared of having the operation at the same time. You can never relax.
“You have to think about what is going to happen to your children if you are not around and make plans in case you are not.”
However, she received a call on June 15 last year asking her to go to the hospital as another organ had become available.
She said: “I remember shaking uncontrollably. I felt relief and excitement but as I was going into theatre I kept crying uncontrollably and apologising.”
She had a long road to recovery, spending six weeks in hospital, and her body rejected the organ twice, despite being on high levels of immunosuppressant drugs.
One of the first things she did on leaving the hospital was go to the seaside with her daughters Lola, 7 and Poppy, 5.
Vicky is just one of many grateful patients who has been given a new lease of life and is passionate about making people aware of organ donation to reduce the shortage.
She said: “I just enjoy life now and live in the moment. Just enjoying being a mum and running round the park with my kids is wonderful.”
Even if you sign up to become an organ donor to save the lives of others your next of kin can refuse to release your organs. So both Dr Gimson and Vicky want to make sure people talk about the topic.
Vicky said: “Currently 30 per cent of the population are on the register but considering 98 per cent would accept an organ if needed that is such a low figure – the numbers should match.”
Dr Gimson said: “I think the problem is that it is a taboo subject.
“Nobody wants to talk about death and organ donation but if it is your wish to be an organ donor you should tell your next of kin because they may go against your wishes.”
For more information and to register visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.
rachel.allen@cambridge-news.co.uk
Cirrhosis facts and figures
Cirrhosis is a certain pattern of scarring within the liver which eventually damages the liver’s functions, which fail over a number of years and may eventually be fatal.
Every year over 4,000 people in the UK die from cirrhosis.
Around 700 people have to have a liver transplant each year to survive.
Survival after a liver transplant is good – 90 per cent are alive after one year and 75 per cent after five years.
Causes of Cirrhosis:
- Alcohol 35%
- Hepatitis viruses 25%
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Autoimmune liver diseases 10%
- Genetic disorders and other rare causes 10%.
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