AASLD – The Liver Meeting – Boston, MA Nov 9 – 12, 2012

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this report. I was honored to represent The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation at AASLD – The Liver Meeting in Boston, November 10 – 12. Saturday, Nov. 10th was the 5 year day that I lost the love of my life, Jacques to cholangicarcinoma – I knew that being at this convention was just where I needed to be on this day.
This was my first time attending AASLD and perhaps the first time that The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation was present. Attendance was amazing, approximately 10,000 attendees. The Liver Meeting is the premier annual US conference on hepatology, covering all aspects of liver disease including viral hepatitis, fatty liver, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation. I spoke with physicians, surgeons, fellows, researchers, scientists etc. from all over the world. I handed out over 250 brochures and ran out of bracelets on the last day – I brought 180 with me.
We were located on Foundation Row, which was an excellent place to be. It was set up in a large hallway that led into the main exhibit hall, everyone had to pass by us to go to the exhibit hall. There were 11 other foundations , including several international foundations. We were the only patient advocacy foundation.
Numerous attendees from Greece, Egypt, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Thailand, Cairo, and Toronto were very interested in knowing about the foundation, as they are seeing a rise in incidence in their country. One physician from Costa Rica said that she alone has 6 cases this year, and it is young patients, she said this is alarming because they have a small population and she knows that other physicians in other towns in Costa Rica are also seeing patients. Many had heard about The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and many had not. I showed so many attendees the site with the use of the iPad, they were very impressed with the wealth of information it contained. I cannot even recall how many people expressed their thanks for the immense efforts of the foundation in raising awareness. It is through this awareness that research, the ability to detect at an early stage, and the improvement of the treatment and care of people living with this cancer will receive, as well as the hope for a cure.
I feel that this was a successful venue for us. We should plan to attend this again next year.  There was a true sense of increased attention and effort by the scientific and medical communty to further research and improve the options that are available to treat cholangicarcinoma. I was not able to go to the sessions as they were ticketed. Next year, we will need to see how we can attend these. As I said earlier, I was honored to represent The Cholangicarcinoma Foundation at this event and I know that many more people know about us due to our attendance at AASLS, The Liver Meeting.
With warmest regards from NH,
Barbara