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In Memorium
Thelma King Thiel: We were deeply saddened to learn of the recent loss of former Surgeon General Dr. C Everett Koop. He was a dear friend and supporter of liver health and wellness, an outspoken advocate for promoting organ donation and warning the nation about the hazards of smoking cigarettes. In the early days of promoting liver health, Dr. Koop
always responded to requests for participation in educational events, interviews on TV and radio, sharing the spotlight with Thelma King Thiel in efforts to promote liver health education. Often described as the most active surgeon general in memory, Dr. Koop will long be remembered for his thoughtful concern for promoting public health and his open door policy welcoming volunteers as well as professionals to share concerns and ideas with him. He has left an impressive legacy for promoting the health of our nation. Hepatitis Foundation educates patients, healthcare professionals, community leaders, and the public about prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis and other preventable liver related diseases.
How Can You Know What Your Liver Does If Nobody Ever Told You?
Thelma King Thiel: I recently read the article, “U.S. Medical Students May Be Undereducated on Obesity”, that appeared on MedlinePlus. The article stated that U.S. medical schools need to do a better job of providing students with communication skills in dealing with obesity. I couldn't agree more.
How can you take care of the most complex life-sustaining organ in your body when no one told you where it was, what it does and that is could be seriously damaged without giving you any warning signs?
The Hepatitis Foundation International, The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and Trust for America’s Health are taking this problem to Congress to “Place the Liver Front and Center” in efforts to promote prevention of a number of debilitating chronic illnesses. Senator Tom Harkin is hosting a Briefing on Capitol Hill to alert congress and the public about liver related diseases that are preventable. These include: obesity, fatty liver, high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, alcohol and drug induced liver injury, strokes and even heart attacks.
Join us and learn how important your liver is to your health and life itself at this important Briefing on Capitol Hill on Valentine’s Day. Taking care of your liver can add healthy years to your life. Learn more...
Obesity: U.S. Medical Students May Be Undereducated
Thelma King Thiel: I recently read the article, “U.S. Medical Students May Be Undereducated on Obesity”, that appeared on MedlinePlus. The article stated that U.S. medical schools need to do a better job of providing students with communication skills in dealing with obesity. I couldn't agree more.
At the invitation of Dr. Arun Sanyal, chair of the Division of Gastroenterology in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and former President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, I had an opportunity to share some basic information about numerous complex functions of the liver using analogies that anyone can relate to in their daily lives that depended on vital liver functions.
With only 15 minutes to do my presentation to 50 second year VCU medical students, I used analogies that anyone can relate to in their daily lives drawn from my own 42 years of experience in evaluating various approaches to motivate individuals to understand why and how to avoid liver damaging behaviors. I was not surprised to receive enthusiastic comments from many of the students who repeatedly said that they needed more information like it. Here are a few of those reactions.
“The analogies given during your talk were very helpful in my own understanding of liver functions and pathology in layman terms. We really needed to hear this. I will be sure to use them with my future patients!”
“ The presentation gave me a new approach when talking to patients that makes the liver more understandable and relatable with terms that I believe most people can grab onto.”
“I realize that I need to be more careful about my diet. Your analogies were great. I think they are appropriately suited for laypeople and medical professionals alike. Thanks!”
Information about the liver has been absent in most school curricula for decades. During similar presentations to thousands of educators, healthcare providers, corporate executives NFL football players and even medical students, I have witnessed an alarming lack of understanding of the important role the liver plays keeping them alive and functioning 24/7.
In response, our organization, The Hepatitis Foundation International (HFI), has developed brief and compelling motivational messages that have been proved to empower patients and others take a role in their own health care. We describe the liver as their body’s internal chemical converter and power source. Liver cells serving responsible for jump staring hundreds of life sustaining body functions. The liver processes everything we eat breathe and absorb trough our skin. Too many fatty foods, alcohol, drugs and hepatitis viruses kill liver cells causing cirrhosis and eventual liver death. Few if any, adults, teens and children realize that the food they eat is the fuel their liver needs to keep them healthy and alive.
We have found that it is possible to create very effective analogies for all age groups to address fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, drug-induced liver disease, strokes and even heart attacks.
Guest Blog
Thelma King Thiel: Tracy is our Endurance Team advisor. She provides support for the participants by offering not just training tips but also fundraising advice.
Running for Charity... by Tracy Cesaretti
When choosing to run my first marathon, I was torn between running it on my own or running for a charity – in the end, I choose to run for a charity. I made the right decision as it meant so much more when I crossed the finish line in October 2010.
Originally, I was nervous about hitting my fundraising minimum – but after sending out 1 email; I realized that wouldn’t be an issue as I was already within $50 of my goal. Between email and social media fundraising is so easy and people are so used to giving that people normally do it immediately upon receiving the email and all of a sudden you are on your way.
Running for a charity allowed me to think about the person I was running for during all of my long training runs as well as continue to be motivated by thinking of those who aren’t lucky enough to be in my shoes and able to train for a marathon. The morning of the race, I was nervous and emotional about would I be able to finish – I had put a photo of the person who I was running for on the back of my bib number and had chosen to wear that persons favorite color on race day. As the race began, I enjoyed the city sites but as I got to mile 15 and beyond – I pulled from the strength of my family member that wasn’t there with me and their photo and used them to remind me that I can finish this as they were there with me in spirit and were pulling me along as I hit spots where I just wanted to drop out of the race. I had tears as I crossed the finish line knowing that I had just completed my first marathon.
In the end, I was so happy that I had chosen to run for a charity as it helped me emotionally finish the race and made the day that much more special for me. The best part, was knowing that I had contributed funds that will hopefully allow someone else to not lose a family member to that horrible disease.Guest Blog
Thelma King Thiel: I would like to introduce a guest blog by our summer graduate school intern, Kristen Felicione. She is pursuing a graduate degree in Public Health from George Washington University. She has worked to develop materials suitable for college students about the consequences of risk behaviors and liver health. I have thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with her and know she has a bright future ahead contributing to the public health field.
Kristen Felicione: Being a current Master of Public Health student and an undergraduate biology major, I conclude my knowledge and awareness of many common diseases and their associated risk factors is greater than the average person. But after just one meeting with Thelma and the HFI staff, I realized my assumed proficiency was lacking in one major area, liver health. What did I know about the liver before coming to HFI? I knew the liver acts as a filter for toxins when drinking alcohol and cirrhosis is a disease often associated with alcohol. Why didn’t I know more? Shouldn’t I have learned this at some point during my 5 years of biology and health schooling? I called friends and family, and asked them a few simple liver questions. I quickly realized liver education, and therefore liver knowledge, is greatly lacking in our country.
I am a huge advocate of education. People are not stupid; there are reasons people conduct certain behaviors. The most important thing we can do at HFI is ensure people are making educated decisions; not only supply information, but the information must be correct and current. It must be stated it is not anyone’s fault they have made unhealthy decisions; there was nothing out there portraying the risks of their actions! Targeting children and young adults with educational programs is imperative; they can still change behaviors easily. The goal of our programs must be short and long term, a short term increase in awareness of the liver, and a long term change of risky behaviors. It is imperative to bring prevention programs into schools and universities in order to decrease liver damaging behaviors before they become epidemic.
Kristen is a Masters of Public Health student at The George Washington University, concentrating in Epidemiology. She graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2010 with a BS in Biology. Kristen currently works as the Assistant Health Outreach Coordinator at GWU.If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now!
An estimated 75% of hepatitis C (HCV) infected individuals are Baby Boomers - many due to risky behaviors that exposed them to hepatitis. Now in the prime of their life they realize that choices made about snorting cocaine or injecting drugs have damaged their liver and threaten their life.
Lack of education decades ago about liver health and the important role it plays in one’s ability to stay alive, failed to alert individuals about liver related preventable diseases such as alcohol abuse, diabetes, and especially hepatitis viruses unknown at that time. The alarming increase recently in young adults being HCV infected called attention to our failure to promote prevention of liver related diseases in schools. How can children make healthful lifestyle choices when they lack the information about liver health and how to avoid liver damaging activities? Teachers lack information and tools to help stop the carnage caused by liver damaging risk behaviors.
Will our teens be facing the same dilemma in years to come that baby boomers face today? Liver health education can save lives each day by preventing liver related diseases including hepatitis, substance abuse, fatty liver, stroke and heart attacks.
What Does Obesity Have To Do With Hepatitis
“Obesity” has joined “hepatitis” as hot topics reaching out to “Baby Boomers Plus”.
Obesity and hepatitis can lead to scarring of the liver called cirrhosis. Both are slowly progressing diseases that silently attack the liver. Why is that important? Your liver is your internal power source that keeps you alive 24/7 converting the food you eat into hundreds of life-sustaining body functions. When your liver shuts down, so do you.
Are you as careful about what you put into your personal engine – your liver – as you are about the fuel you put in the engine of your car? Choosing the right foods for your liver to process is essential to living a healthy life.
On the other hand, hepatitis viruses ”invisible to the eye”, may have entered your body through your skin or mucous membranes as long ago as 20 or 30 years. Needle sticks, tattoo needles, body piercings, IV drug use and even through unprotected sex with an infected partner could have allowed these insidious viruses to enter your body. Once they gain entre they travel through your blood stream to your liver where they settle in replicating themselves and killing liver cells.
Don’t take a chance! Check your liver out. A simple blood test can tell you if your liver is in trouble or if it is infected. A simple blood test could be the life preserver your liver needs to alert you to the need to take care better of it. You must ask your healthcare provider to test you for viral as it is not a routine part of your physical examination.
Get tested and if needed, treated and rid of this insidious disease.
Focusing Prevention Where it is Needed Most
Surveys conducted by the Hepatitis Foundation International identify a critical knowledge gap among teachers. Only three out of 300 Maryland teachers admitted learning about the liver in their own educational experience. Understanding the importance of the liver to one's health and life itself is primarily due to the lack of liver health in school curricula for decades. Knowing that prevention depends on individuals making personal health choices. We can not expect individuals to know why and how to avoid liver damaging activities without understanding the vital role the liver plays in processing practically everything we eat, breathe and absorb through our skin Food is the fuel the liver processes. Our choices of fatty foods, sugary drinks and chemicals in drugs and alcohol can damage liver cells having a devastating impact on this miraculous non complaining organ.
The high incidence of chronic diseases including heart disease, obesity, fatty liver, stroke, diabetes and viral hepatitis among disadvantaged communities is having a devastating impact on the future health of individuals of all ages. The fact that all of these health conditions are liver related and preventable provides a wonderful opportunity to bring these chronic illnesses under control, saving lives and healthcare dollars. We can reach our most vulnerable multiracial population in schools beginning in preschool throughout the entire educational system, By creating a well informed pool of educators, social workers, counselors and others in leadership roles with effective communication techniques and educational tools about liver health and wellness, we can reach thousands of children.
Are You the One Out of Every 33 Baby Boomers
Who Is Hepatitis C Infected?
Were you born between 1945 and 1965? Why not give yourself a Lifesaving Birthday Present today? Even if you feel fine you could be harboring hepatitis C viruses (HCV) that are silently killing liver cells, the employees in your personal chemical converter and power source — your liver.
Did you know that liver cells act like computer chips responsible for jump starting hundreds of life maintaining body functions? hepatitis C viruses invade liver cells, killing them and forming scar tissue, called cirrhosis. This could be going on for 20, 30 or more years without your knowledge. Unfortunately, the liver does not have an early warning system to let you know this carnage is going on until your power plant starts to shut down. When your liver goes... so do you.
A simple blood test could be your personal Life Preserver and the best present you can give yourself. Check off the list of risks you may have taken over the years several decades.
- Had a blood transfusion before 1992
- Shared razosr, toothbrushes, nail clippers, needles or other sharp instruments
- Used I V drugs/ needles/paraphernalia
- Had dialysis treatments
- Had unprotected rough sex
No one but you and your doctor needs to know. If you are infected, treatments are available with an impressive cure rate.
Be your best friend and get tested today.
Happy next birthday. I am sure your liver will be happy too.
Call 1-800-891-0707 for confidential referral to specialists in your area. We are here to help.
Nurse Practitioners, PAs, and Substance Abuse
Counselors Lead the Way to Baby Boomers
Hundreds of mid level healthcare providers, the gate keepers in outreach efforts to encourage Baby Boomers to be screened for viral hepatitis, sharpen their skills and knowledge by attending Hepatitis Foundation International’ s Viral hepatitis Summits.
Renowned experts in liver health and viral hepatitis provide cutting edge information on new treatments, diagnosis and management issues related to depression and side effects. In addition, they learn new motivational techniques to encourage individuals to participate in their own healthcare and management.
“Our Baltimore Viral hepatitis Summit was the best we have ever had on this critical issue,” said Elizabeth Bohle, MSN, APRN, Adult Viral hepatitis Prevention Coordinator (AVHPC) in Maryland.
Additional Viral hepatitis Summits are being co-sponsored by State Health Department AVHPC’s in Milwaukee, WI; LasVegas, NE; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, KS; Boston, MA; Orlando, FL; Orlando, FL and Miami, FL.
It is a win – win situation for all involved. Just let us know if you are interested in have a Summit in your area.
“These summits fill existing gaps in education providing unique and critically-needed communication techniques about viral hepatitis and the liver,” wrote Dr. Kathleen Koechlin, AVHPC in Columbus, Ohio.
“Because ‘baby boomers’ have the highest prevalence for hepatitis C, a one-time screening is likely to identify a large number of infected individuals who without recognition and treatment are likely to develop serious, life-threatening liver disease, leading to premature death,” said Dr. Raymond Koff, hepatologist at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Vice-Chair of Hepatitis Foundation International.
Join our efforts to encourage Baby Boomers to be screened for hepatitis C to stop the spread of this insidious disease and to help them find renewed health with new and effective treatments.
Leaving a Legacy for a Loved One
When my precious son, Dean, was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver from a rare and fatal liver disease when he was only two weeks old, my world fell apart. How could this be? I had done everything right during my pregnancy. I hadn’t been sick. Why my baby? How could this happen?
That was 39 years ago.
To this day, researchers are at a loss as to the cause of biliary atresia, a disease that destroyed Dean’s bile ducts in utero.
Why was my sweet, innocent baby doomed to a life of suffering from two fractured hips, two major surgeries and worst of all, unrelenting itching night and day?
My heart ached when other children teased him because his skin was yellow due to his liver problem. I would tell Dean that God made him the color of sunshine because he was a very special little boy.
My heart ached constantly. I cried and prayed every day for a miracle to save his life. After four heart wrenching but precious years, Dean died on Christmas Eve.
That was 34 years ago.
What could I do to pay tribute and honor the memory to my littlest angel? How could his short time on earth have some lasting meaning to others?
Our family and friends decided to establish the Dean Thiel Research Endowment Fund to support young scientists in their search for answers to this and other dreadful liver diseases that claim the lives of thousands of children and adults each year.
An annual grant is awarded in Dean’s memory to a young researcher to support his or her studies to unlock the mysteries of the liver and liver diseases. Dean’s legacy lives on by helping others.
As Dean’s Mom, I fill each day with my personal tribute to Dean promoting the prevention of liver diseases encouraged by a faint little voice in my head and heart that says, “Go get ’em Mom”.
For information on setting up a Research Endowment Fund or to make a bequest in honor of a loved one, please contact Thelma King Thiel at 1-800-891-0707.
Personal thoughts from
the founder of Hepatitis
Foundation International...
Thelma King Thiel
In Memorium...
Dr. C. Everett Koop
How Can You Know
What Your Liver Does
If Nobody Ever Told You?
Obesity: U.S. Medical Students May Be Undereducated
Guest Blog:
Kristen Felicione
Running for Charity
What Does Obesity
Have To Do With Hepatitis
Focusing Prevention
Where it is Needed Most
Are You the One out of
Every 33 Baby Boomers
Who is Hepatitis C Infected?
Nurse Practitioners, PAs, and
Substance Abuse Counselors
Lead the Way to Baby Boomers
Leaving a Legacy
for a Loved One
