Focus SWW Summer 2017 | Page 15

You’ve got to... Love Your Liver! How much do you really know about your liver? Chances are it’s not a great deal – most of us take our liver for granted, and for the majority of us it will soldier on for years without complaining. It is quite incredible; it is responsible for processing everything that goes into our bodies and performing over 500 essential functions. BUT... more than one in five of us are at risk of preventable liver disease. What we eat, drink and how much (or little) we exercise, and if we put ourselves at risk of viral hepatitis, all can have a devastating impact on our liver. Love Your Liver aims to encourage more of us to care about this amazing organ by taking three simple steps to good liver health – eating and drinking healthily, reducing our risk of obesity, and being aware of viral hepatitis. Love Your Liver week runs from 19th to 25th June and the British Liver Trust wants the nation to get behind the campaign. You can get involved today by: • Taking a 10 minute liver health screener to see if you are at risk • Displaying posters or distributing leaflets • Selling Love Your Liver Raffle tickets • Holding a fundraising event – anything from a coffee morning to a sponsored run! The British Liver Trust will also be out on the road with a mobile screening and scanning unit from 19th to 30th June – look out for your nearest event and come along if you can. At previous events we have found 20% of people needed to be referred for further tests. One attendee at our Norwich event said “I had some awareness already as my father was ill with liver problems. They need to do more of these as there was a high demand.” For further details of the campaign, roadshow locations and the online screener, please visit the British Liver Trust website: www.britishlivertrust.org.uk/lyl-2017 The British Liver Trust is a UK registered charity whose mission is to reduce the impact of liver disease and support everyone affected by any liver condition. The Society of Will Writers 13