Rafika’s run for liver disease

Rafika’s run for liver disease

Rafika doesn’t know what possessed her to sign up for her first half marathon. “I was discouraged from running as a child. Eventually the thought of running 200 metres down the street made my legs hurt!” she says.

Rafika, a mother of two from a small town in Indonesia who moved to Perth in 1993, lost her father in 2014 after his two-year battle with liver cancer. Then she unexpectedly lost her mother eight years later to hepatitis B.

“Mum had been managing it with medications, but without us knowing, had stopped taking them due to COVID-19,” Rafika says.

“My mum was always such an active and involved person in her community even up until her passing, and with hepatitis B being asymptomatic, we didn’t think much about the severity of the condition.

“One day she became very ill. I remember her saying to me over the phone that it was ‘just a cold’. A few days later she then told me her urine had changed colour, and that was when I told her to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, her condition had reached a stage where we knew she wouldn’t be leaving her hospital bed.”

Having now lost both parents to liver disease, Rafika processed her grief by starting to walk. Walking evolved into running, and entering the 2025 HBF Run for a Reason seemed like the next logical step.

Choosing Liver Foundation to support seemed like it was meant to be. “We lost dad when he was 72 and mum when she was only 64. Oftentimes I do feel like if only we knew a little more about their diseases (especially in mum’s case) maybe we would have a little more time and be more prepared,” she says

Rafika raised an incredible $1,408 for the Liver Foundation, enabling us to provide information and support to others who are experiencing liver disease and their loved ones.

“The HBF Fun Run platform actually made it very easy to start the whole fundraising process. I was touched by the overwhelming encouragement and donations I got from family, friends and colleagues, which really pushed me along when the running got hard,” says Rafika.

“Participating in the HBF run on behalf of my parents makes me think in their passing, they gave me this gift to run and push myself to do things I didn’t think were possible.”

You have the power to make a real difference
If you were inspired by Rafika’s story, you can find out more about how you can get involved here.