She eventually died an untimely death from liver cancer. People don't have to die of this. You can not only screen for it, but treat it. Hereditary hemochromatosis is the most common genetic disease in the United States, yet almost nobody has heard of it. Hereditary hemochromatosis is the most common genetic disease in the United States, yet almost nobody has heard of it.
People cook in iron cookware, pop iron-fortified vitamins, and eat liver and spinach.
All of this can be too much of a good thing. Those with a certain genetic makeup tend to take up iron more readily than those without this makeup. The most genetically susceptible to hemochromatosis are people from Northern Europe, the British Isles, Germany, and especially Wales, along with African Americans and to some degree, Hispanics. Not only is it detectable in the early stages before the damage is done, but you can prevent it from being a problem if you know you have it early enough. It's highly treatable.