One of our young liver patients, Thomas Morrison, has been collecting all his loose change, together with donations in tins from local shops, since he was just a toddler. He’s one of our staunchest supporters along with his family. He recently met Arthur at our Helpdesk at Liver Outpatients, and handed over the phenomenal sum of £825 to help further our support work. What a role model and ambassador for our young patients. Well done Thomas, and he has already started his next collection!

Pictured is Barney McConville, owner of Steel Lintels Ireland Ltd, presenting a cheque for £2000 to Kay Duffy, founder of the RVH Liver Support Group in memory of his wife the late Alison McConville. Also pictured are employees of the company who were involved in the fundraising effort. We wish to thank everyone involved.

Our team who travelled to the @2025worldtransplantgames in Dresden during the summer, were delighted to have been invited back to Stormont last night by invitation of both the Sports Minister and Health Minister to congratulate them on their successes on the world stage. Thanks to the ministers and their departments for hosting this event and all those others from a number of other Northern Ireland transplant charities who came along to support us.

The family of the late Fr Brendan Smyth are seen here presenting a cheque of £1100 to Kay Duffy, founder of the RVH Liver Support Group. The Group would like to thank them for this wonderful donation which will be used to support liver patients.

Our Chairman, Jim Kilpatrick, was pleased to represent all of our Liver Support Group members at an Afternoon Tea event in the Mansion House, in the City of London, hosted by the @british_liver_trust (BLT) and the Lady Mayoress, earlier this week. Others present were Trustees, Ambassadors and Directors of BLT, and supporters from around the UK. This included our own Rachel Quinney-Mee, her husband David and daughter Alice, BLT Ambassadors.

Another successful coffee morning, this time in Bushtown Coleraine where Ashley and Kay hosted the event. A time again for patients, many local to the area, to meet up and have a coffee and scone whilst chatting to friends.

Our next coffee morning is already booked and will be held in the Mourne Country hotel Newry on November 5 between 10 and 12:30. It will be hosted by Kay and Arthur. We look forward to seeing as many patients there as possible and remember that you can come to as many coffee events as you like and take someone with you 🙂

Another roaring success for Hillsborough!!. This event was hosted by Jim, Jane, Patricia and Sharon from committee .We had over 44 people attend the event in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle as you can see in the attached cards. And of course Jane and Michael with their newborn, Alexander

This is becoming one of the most looked forward to and attended events of the entire coffee event calendar!!

It is also especially poignant because it is always held during Organ Donation Week which holds a very special place in the hearts of many of our Charity members.

The next coffee event will be held in the Bushtown hotel in Coleraine on October 11th. Look forward to seeing you there and remember everyone is welcome and bring friends too.

Members of the RVH Liver Support Group, along with committee members, attended the bicycle run on Thursday of Organ Donation Week at Belfast Grand Central Station.

Staff members of the RVH Regional Liver Unit pictured with Arthur Goan (RVHLSG Patient Care Team) marking Organ Donation Week in the hospital.

On September 15 to 18 the British Liver Trust visited Northern Ireland with their trailer offering free FibroScans to members of the public to check their liver health. We will publish the stats on numbers when we have this information to hand but we can say that many people did avail of the opportunity. The event was in Enniskillen om Monday, Stormont on Tuesday, Belfast City Hall on Wednesday with the final day being at the Diamond Coleraine.

This is a very  important and beneficial event held yearly by the Trust and we encourage uptake always. We are seeing more and more patients now with fatty liver disease caused by bad diet and lack of exercise. This condition, if undiagnosed, can lead to severe liver damage and cirrhosis, just like the many other liver conditions. In virtually all cases there will be no prior symptoms until its too late .

We would take this opportunity to nudge the general public to consider their eating habits and exercise regime and to consider making lifestyle changes if necessary. We have more information available from our home page on fatty liver (MASLD).

Equally, if you consider yourself as someone who may be consuming excess amounts of alcohol it is time now to take a closer look at the units you consume. Please have a look HERE for further details. We are finding that most patients presenting with cirrhosis or end stage liver disease are not those who are alcohol dependent; rather, it is those who are social drinkers who consume moderate amounts over a long period of time.