Join the Fight Against Liver Disease
Give to fund diagnostic tools and raise awareness
Liver Health Matters is a campaign to raise liver disease awareness
Help Mercy Health Foundation Irvine promote early detection
You may not hear as much about it, but Liver Health Matters. Today, an estimated 80-100 million Americans have liver disease—including Irvine residents. After seeing an uptick in local cases, Mercy Health Foundation Irvine created a full program to address it. And we hope you join us, for the greater health of our community.
Liver Health Matters has two goals. One is to raise public awareness throughout Irvine and the surrounding areas. The other is to raise funds to install a FibroScan at Mercy Health - Marcum and Wallace Hospital. A FibroScan provides a non-invasive assessment of a liver, increasing early detection chances. And currently, early detection is the single best defense against advancing liver disease. If caught early enough, lifestyle modifications can even reverse the disease altogether.
Help Reverse Liver Disease
Give now to help prevent and reverse advancing liver disease in our community members
Why is early detection so important?
There are five stages of liver health, ranging from healthy to cancerous. Catching liver disease within the first three stages gives a person the opportunity to reverse it. But the reason liver disease is so dangerous is because symptoms don't tend to occur until stage four. And by that time, it's too late. At that stage, the disease is irreversible and it can cause cancer, liver failure and even death. Early diagnosis and intervention saves lives.
Who is at risk?
Anyone can have liver disease but certain people are at higher risk. Those with pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes or obesity are more likely to develop liver disease. People with a family history of cirrhosis are, too. Other red flags are abnormal liver function tests or having fatty liver. Marcum and Wallace Hospital is seeing more and more patients with these indicators. And since an estimated 1 in 3 Americans have liver disease, you probably know some of them.
Benefits of FibroScan
- Non-invasive and painless
- Rapid results—no more waiting days or weeks
- Cost-effective, covered by commercial insurance, Medicare and Medicaid
- Eliminates need for additional testing and biopsies
- Helps identify and monitor patients who are suitable for clinical trials, prescriptions and emerging therapies
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