Love Your Liver campaign spreads awareness at Milton Park

The British Liver Trust hosted a successful Love Your Liver roadshow event at Milton Park, providing free testing, information and advice from health professionals regarding liver health.

The mobile screening and scanning unit, currently travelling the country throughout Liver Cancer Awareness Month this October, served a total of 98 people at Milton Park who’d signed up for an appointment, filling all available slots.

This was made possible by the Milton-Park based biopharmaceutical company, Ipsen, who sponsored the roadshow for the day, aligning with its work supporting liver disease patients, as well as the dedication and expertise of the brilliant nurses and healthcare staff working on the campaign.

Inside the specially equipped Love Your Liver mobile unit, people were encouraged to talk to a healthcare professional where they were given advice on diet, exercise and healthy living to help them take better care of their livers.

Additionally, all those who registered for a slot were offered a liver health screener, which asks a series of lifestyle questions to assess the potential for liver damage against the three main causes: alcohol, obesity and viral hepatitis.

Following this, participants were asked if they would like to have their liver checked using a FibroScan machine, not normally freely available to the public. This is a quick, simple and non-invasive scanning method that measures the stiffness of the liver and any signs of damage, indicating its level of health. Healthy livers are soft and elastic but if the liver becomes damaged over time through scars or fattening, it can become much harder.

One in five of people are at risk of liver disease and the numbers of people being diagnosed have been increasing at an alarming rate. If liver disease is diagnosed at a late stage, it can lead to liver cancer, which has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Additionally, 90% of liver disease is preventable, yet it’s still the biggest cause of death for people between the ages of 35 to 49 years old due to late-stage diagnoses. Consequently, the aim of the Love Your Liver campaign is to raise public awareness of liver health risk factors to prevent liver disease and improve early detection.

Jonathan Worsfold, Project Delivery Manager at the British Liver Trust, said: “We’re really pleased to have run such a successful and efficient Love Your Liver roadshow event at Milton Park with special thanks to Ipsen for their sponsorship.

“It’s brilliant to see so many people signing up and wanting to find out more about liver disease so that they can spot any symptoms and are aware of the key underlying causes.

“We’re looking forward to reaching and helping even more people throughout this month and encourage everyone to find out if there’s a roadshow coming to your town or city this October.”

John Chaddock, VP Head of REED Operations and Site Head for Milton Park at Ipsen, said: “It was wonderful to have the fabulous team from the British Liver Trust and its mobile bus available for Milton Park based personnel this week.

“Many of our team had their livers scanned and received valuable information on the importance of a healthy diet and exercise in maintaining a healthy liver.

“We’re extremely proud to have sponsored this campaign to come to Milton Park and wish the British Liver Trust team the best of luck with the rest of their roadshow events.”

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at MEPC Milton Park, said: “Thanks to Ipsen’s sponsorship of the event, it was a privilege to welcome the British Liver Trust to Milton Park to promote awareness of this really important health issue, giving people the opportunity to get tested and find out more information.

“As an international science and technology community, we’re always keen to support initiatives that our Milton Park-based companies are passionate about, including the huge advances they make in life sciences and technology which lie at the very heart of what they do.”

For more information on the upcoming roadshow events this month, please visit: https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/information-and-support/liver-health-2/love-your-liver/events/