My newest article up on on SHAPE.com!. Recently, I said that I’d like to share more of my published pieces and how the article came to be so, today, on the blog, I’m sharing a little backstory and a great takeaway from this experience.
I was having some pain in the area where my gallbladder was removed and my doctor suggested an ultrasound. I received a letter in the mail stating ‘some fatty liver detected’ and I panicked. My dad has an autoimmune disease (and a few questionable lifestyle habits) that led to two liver transplants and a kidney transplant by the time he was 51 years old. I’ve spent a lot of time in the University of Washington Liver Transplant Support Group and I’ve seen what a bad liver can do to someone. It isn’t pretty.
I scheduled a follow-up appointment and started to do a little bit of my own research. I discovered that lots of otherwise healthy women have fatty liver and because of this and since most of my friends and family seemed shocked when I told them my diagnosis, it sparked an idea for an article.
I pitched the idea to my editor at SHAPE.com and I got to work. I contacted several liver specialists and I’m so thankful I was introduced to Dr. Monika Sarkar at UCSF. She was so knowledgeable and, honestly, answered a lot of questions I had myself.
What started out very scary ended up being a great experience because I learned a lot, including what I can do to reduce the fat in my liver and I put this information out for other women to prevent or improve the condition for themselves.
Anytime you run across something in your field (I think fitness and health overlap quite a bit and, as it turns out, exercise plays a big role in fatty liver disease) that makes you say, “What?!” just think how many other would feel the same and love to have more information on the topic!
♥ Andrea