LIVER HEALTH EDUCATION & ADVOCACY

From Loss to Knowledge to Hope

I didn't come to liver health only through my work as a pharmacist. I came to it through my own family — and my own diagnosis.

My journey with hepatitis B has taken me through loss, fear, silence, knowledge, advocacy, restoration, and ultimately, hope.

LOSS → FEAR → SILENCE → KNOWLEDGE → ADVOCACY → RESTORATION → HOPE

LOSS

I lost my father to liver cancer. Seven years later, my younger brother died from the same disease. He was 35.

Their loss is the reason hepatitis B became personal to me long before it became professional.

FEAR & SILENCE

For years, I was also living with chronic hepatitis B myself — carrying the same diagnosis that had already taken my father and my brother, often in silence.

“I felt like I was a bomb about to explode, and I was capping it in a bottle.”

— Bunmi Daramaja, U.S. Congressional Briefing on Hepatitis B, May 2017

That silence wasn't unique to me. Stigma around hepatitis B can make an already frightening diagnosis even harder to talk about — sometimes even with the people closest to us.

KNOWLEDGE

Understanding didn't erase the fear right away. But it began to loosen its grip.

As I learned more about hepatitis B, my healthcare background gave me a particular lens for understanding the disease, asking better questions, and separating evidence from some of the fear that silence and stigma had allowed to grow.

Knowledge became the first step out of that isolation.

What began as a private diagnosis eventually became a public voice.

ADVOCACY

Eventually, private experience became public purpose.

In May 2017, I was invited to speak as a storyteller and pharmacist at a U.S. Congressional briefing on hepatitis B, in partnership with the Hepatitis B Foundation. I shared my family's story and my own experience living with chronic hepatitis B, while appealing for continued federal support toward a cure.

CONGRESS — MAY 2017

Sharing my hepatitis B story at a Congressional briefing in Washington, D.C.

Two months later, in July 2017, I provided public testimony before the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee during its review of HEPLISAV-B, speaking from both my professional perspective as a pharmacist and my family's experience with hepatitis B and liver cancer.

FDA — JULY 2017

Providing public testimony before the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, July 2017.

I Could No Longer Keep My Story to Myself

Leading a community hepatitis awareness campaign, 2017


Speaking about hepatitis B and liver health while serving as President of WAHA - West Africa Health Assistance Initiative

EDUCATE · ENGAGE · ADVOCATE

RESTORATION

Then came the turn I hadn't dared to expect.

I had been on antiviral treatment for many years and had participated in clinical trials. Along the way, I also began making significant changes in how I cared for myself — paying closer attention to lifestyle, recovery, and restoration.

In November 2022, after years of living with chronic hepatitis B, my physician gave me news I had once struggled to imagine:

I had achieved a functional cure.

I can't say exactly why it happened for me. My journey included years of medical treatment, participation in research, and significant changes in how I cared for my health. I can't attribute the outcome to any one of those things.

What I do know is what that moment meant to me.

After losing my father and brother to liver cancer, the diagnosis that had carried so much fear no longer held the same ending I had once imagined.

WHAT DOES “FUNCTIONAL CURE” MEAN?

In chronic hepatitis B, functional cure generally refers to sustained loss of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), with the infection remaining controlled without the need for ongoing antiviral treatment.

Functional cure is different from complete eradication of HBV from the body, and appropriate medical follow-up remains important.

This information is for educational purposes and does not replace individualized medical care.

HOPE

For years, hepatitis B was a story I associated with loss, fear, and uncertainty.

Today, it is also a story of knowledge, advocacy, restoration, and hope.

That is why my liver health work isn't only about what happened to me. It's about helping create the kind of informed, supportive community I wish more families had when my own journey began.

“Your candid sharing of your personal journey — which is both very private and very difficult emotionally — resonates with me and makes you very believable. You have experienced it yourself, and through your family, what you are talking about.”

— Patrick N., Business Owner

Turning Lived Experience Into Community

My liver health work today brings together education, advocacy, lived experience, and community.

Through the Restoration Liver Health Summit, Live For Your Liver, and ongoing educational initiatives, I create spaces where people affected by liver conditions can find credible information, ask better questions, connect with others, and find hope — without the silence that once surrounded my own family.

Restoration Liver Health Summit

A gathering created to bring liver health education, professional perspectives, lived stories,

and hope into one conversation.

Restoration Liver Health Summit 2026 faculty

Live For Your Liver

A Community for Learning, Connection & Hope

Live For Your Liver is an educational and supportive community for people who want to better understand liver health, energy, restoration, and long-term vitality.

It's a place to learn, ask questions, connect with others, and have conversations about liver health without the fear, silence, or stigma that too often surrounds it.

FREE RESOURCE

Prepare for Your Next Liver Appointment

Going into a medical appointment with your questions and information organized can help you have a more informed conversation with your healthcare team.

The Liver Appointment Companion is a simple guide designed to help you organize:

  • Questions you want to ask

  • Your current medications and supplements

  • Recent test results

  • Symptoms or changes you've noticed

  • Concerns you don't want to forget

  • Notes and next steps from your appointment

You'll also receive occasional liver health and restoration insights, including the Tuesday Restoration Minute™. You can unsubscribe at any time.

INDIVIDUAL LIVER HEALTH SUPPORT

Living With a Chronic Liver Condition?

Your needs may be different from someone simply looking to improve energy or general well-being.

When appropriate, I offer individualized restoration-centered support for people living with chronic liver conditions. This work is designed to complement — not replace — appropriate medical care and may consider your health history, medications, lifestyle, energy, daily rhythms, and capacity for change.

The first step is to learn more about how I work and determine whether my approach may be appropriate for you.

CONNECT WITH BUNMI

HOW IS YOUR ENERGY DOING?

Take the complimentary Energy & Vitality Review™

12 questions. About 3 minutes. Get a personalized snapshot of how well your current habits are supporting your energy and recovery.

© 2026 Bunmi Daramaja. All Rights Reserved