Don’t let liver disease keep you from chasing your dreams

After struggling with my health for years, mainly due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), my life has taken a dramatic turn for the better. After teetering on a tightrope between life and death, I’m finally on solid ground. So I decided to do something radical.

I went back to school.

Five years ago, that decision would have seemed absurd. At the time, I was listed on two liver transplant programs in case my liver failed for the last time. My hair was thin. My skin was sallow. My energy level rivaled that of a kitten after wrestling its siblings for half an hour. I hid the yellow tinge in my eyes with cosmetics. Sometimes it worked. Often, it didn’t. It was clear I was very sick.

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After leaving a job I loved — working as a writer and editor for a historic Black fraternity — my health crashed. One day, I was walking and talking; the next, I was in a nursing home on palliative care. I was expected to die.

But I wasn’t ready.

Years later, I’m still here.

There was a time when I thought I would never write again. Brain fog, a common complication of advanced liver disease, turned words into traitors. They hovered just out of reach, dancing on the tip of my tongue before dissolving into nonsense. I felt like I was waiting for the “Conjunction Junction” train conductor to explain what the words were supposed to do. The train was late. Frequently.

Now I’m the conductor again.

That’s why I returned to school. MASH has taken enough from me. It does not get to take my future.

Living fearlessly

The first week of classes tested that resolve. A snowstorm buried the mid-Atlantic in several inches of snow, followed by an ice storm that turned the city into a skating rink. My program meets two days a week. Missing even one day matters. But I’ve learned to roll with what comes. After all, I wasn’t supposed to be here.

I write this for anyone living with MASH, cirrhosis, or chronic liver disease who feels their dreams slipping away. A diagnosis is not a verdict. If you are still breathing, hope is not lost. The question becomes: What are you hoping for?

For me, it was reinvention. I am training for a new career that will allow me to continue writing this column on the side. I am choosing expansion over contraction.

Walking through campus has been an education in itself. Students of every age, ability, and background move with purpose. I pass young adults with Down syndrome carrying backpacks heavier than mine, greeting everyone with warmth. For generations, people with disabilities were written off at birth. Now they are earning degrees. They are building lives. Watching them has strengthened my own resolve to claim my space in this world — even in my late 50s.

When my future was uncertain, I made a decision. I would not live in fear. I would live fearlessly. If my body was willing to keep going, I would honor that gift.

That decision led me to buy my first home on my own. It led me to real love. It led to countless memories with my teenage daughter. It pushed me to do things I once dismissed because “what’s the point if I’m going to die young?”

Here’s the thing. We’re all going to die.

My maternal grandfather used to say, “Life is a death sentence.” He wasn’t wrong. Mortality is universal. But what if today isn’t the day? What if we treat the diagnosis not as a period but as a comma?

MASH is a serious, progressive liver disease. It can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure. But advances in treatment, lifestyle changes, and careful medical management are improving outcomes for many patients. Survival is not rare. Recovery is not mythical. It requires vigilance, medical partnership, and stubborn optimism.

Right now, I’m too busy planning my 100th birthday to obsess over my funeral.

There will be cake.

Coconut cake.

And I plan to earn every slice.

Note: Liver Disease News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Liver Disease News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to liver disease.