The Royal Victoria Hospital Liver Support Group is a Northern Ireland based charity with a network of volunteer liver patients and their carers providing support, non-medical advice and information for all those coping with liver disease.

The group operates throughout Northern Ireland. The RVHLSG is ten years old this year, having been founded in April 1998 by Kay Duffy from Moy. From those small beginnings there are now over two hundred members on our list.

The Group recently embarked on a project to raise funds to buy a diagnostic FibroScan machine to be based at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but will be used on liver patients from all over Northern Ireland.

A working group was set up who worked tirelessly over a period of ten months to reach their target.

On Friday 25th April their dream became a reality when a cheque for £51,000 was handed over at their Gala Banquet in the Ramada in Belfast to consultant hepatologists, Drs Callender and McDougall from the Royal.

The achievement would not have been possible without the boundless generosity of the good people of Northern Ireland and the Group would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank everyone of this area who supported them in any way with their fundraising. The response has been much appreciated.

If you would like to find out more about the group visit www.rvhliversupportgroup.co.uk.

The FibroScan is a specialist piece of equipment which provides an instantaneous, totally non-invasive assessment of levels of fibrosis and scarring in the liver. Drs Callender and McDougall, Consultant Hepatologists at the Royal Victoria Hospital said "This equipment will be a very valuable asset in our diagnoses and treatment of liver diseases"