The first I ever heard of NASH was when I was diagnosed with cirrhosis.  Couldn’t be I wasn’t a big drinker.  As I went through several years of trying to understand my situation and get a proper management program I learned that I could have been warned of this slow moving progressive disease years earlier.  I would have had a very good chance to avoid stage 4 liver disease had I just been properly screened.  The fact that there are millions just like me who have advancing disease and don’t know it was a key reason for the creation of the Fatty Liver Foundation.

Some of you may already know this, but a couple of years ago we set off to screen every liver in the country. We started what is now known as the SUNN studies in Houston and Galveston County, Texas, where we screened over 900 folks for undiagnosed NAFLD and NASH. This first round of screening revealed almost 40% of the study population met our criteria for NAFLD. This is roughly double the estimated presence of NAFLD in the US! If you’re interested in reading more of our project findings, click here to read our published report in PLOS One. 

We learned that a significant number of people with no symptoms could be identified with this kind of community based program. That encouraged us to propose the SUNN-2 study with a goal of screening 20,000 people. We are now ready to begin the next phase of our SUNN studies. Heading to the heart of the country, our goal for SUNN-2 is to screen the livers of 2,000 people in the Washington DC area. We’re excited to announce the launch of our GoFundMe to help support screening costs!

Would you consider helping us in this small but mighty effort to reach some of the 100 million Americans unknowingly living with fatty liver disease? Every $50 contribution covers the cost of a liver screen that could change a life. We all know about the power of early detection and screenings, especially when it comes to conditions like cancers. It’s time we started applying that mindset to NAFLD and NASH. 

We understand these are challenging times for everyone. While $50 covers the cost to screen one person, a contribution of any size is powerful. If you have a moment, please click here to visit our GoFundMe page.

I also welcome you to share this post or our GoFundMe link with others who might be interested in the fight against fatty liver disease. If you prefer the power of visual messages, we’ve created a kit here full of images to spread the word over social media. 

We believe it is immoral to allow people to get to the end stage disease we call cirrhosis or stage 4 NASH when they can be identified and educated about the disease long before it becomes a problem. We appreciate your support in helping #SaveOurLivers!