Tony Villiotti, who lives in Pennsylvania, was diagnosed with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in 2005, which progressed to metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) by 2014. He shares insights on how caregivers can help liver disease patients adjust to their diagnosis.

Well, the biggest advice I would have for a caregiver for someone with liver disease is to understand what the person is going through. In most situations, the person with liver disease does not look sick, and it may be hard to understand that they are sick.

Education in terms of, you know, hearing other people’s stories about how they dealt with the disease, I think, is very important just to give the caregiver an understanding of what the patient is going through. And that would prepare them to, you know, be helpful to that patient.

The other piece of advice I would have for the caregiver is not to forget about your own care. Sometimes, you get so wrapped up in dealing with a patient that you let your doctor’s appointments slide or you develop unhealthy habits. So the caregiver needs to be healthy.