Hope Comes to Visit
Hope Comes to Visit is a soulful podcast that holds space for real stories, honest conversations, and the kind of moments that remind us we’re never alone.
Hosted by author, speaker, and former TV journalist-turned-storyteller Danielle Elliott Smith, the show explores the full spectrum of the human experience — from the tender to the triumphant. Through powerful interviews and reflective storytelling, each episode offers light, connection, and presence for anyone navigating the in-between.
Whether you’re grieving, growing, beginning again, or simply craving something real, Hope Comes to Visit will meet you right where you are — with warmth, grace, and the quiet belief that even in the dark, transformation can take root.
New episodes drop every Monday, so you can begin your week with a little light, reflection, and hope.
Hope Comes to Visit
Bellamy Young on Caregiving, Liver Disease & the Freedom Beyond Shame
Actress Bellamy Young, from the hit TV shows Scandal and Brilliant Minds, joins Danielle to share the story behind her advocacy for liver disease—and the caregiving journey with her dad that began when he was diagnosed with cirrhosis and later hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Bellamy speaks candidly about shame, stigma, and the moment everything changed: realizing liver disease can affect the brain, memory, personality, and daily life.
Together, we talk about the hypervigilance of caregiving, why community matters as much as treatment, and the essential practice of asking for help before burnout. Bellamy also shares what’s changed in HE care, how speaking her story healed the 15-year-old inside her, and where caregivers can find practical support.
You’ll hear:
- What HE is—and the signs families often miss
- The toll of caregiver hypervigilance (and realistic ways to refill your tank)
- Why shame isolates—and how truth + community set us free
- Resources Bellamy points to for appointments and next steps
This conversation is a reminder: you’re not alone, and asking for help is an act of love.
Resources mentioned
- *Caregiver planning tools and questions for appointments (the Caregivers Corner Bellamy references at xifaxan.com).
- Local support, peer groups, and your doctor’s care team for HE education and follow-up.
Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this conversation helps, follow the show, share it with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review - it helps others find their way to these conversations.
New episodes drop every Monday, so you can begin your week with a little light and a lot of hope.
For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit
It was heartbreaking, honestly, because you know I thought my dad hung the moon. You know he really was my North Star and as a kid, you know you always, you think your parents are always going to be there and I was terrified of losing him.
Speaker 2:I'm Danielle Elliott Smith, and this is Hope Comes to Visit, where we celebrate conversations about hope, healing and the power of storytelling. Today's guest is Bellaby Young, actress and powerful advocate for liver disease. Let's take a quick moment to thank the people that support and sponsor the podcast. When life takes an unexpected turn, you deserve someone who will stand beside you. St Louis attorney Chris Dulley offers experienced one-on-one legal defense. Call 314-384-4000 or 314-DUI-HELP, or you can visit D Dullelawfirmcom that's D-U-L-L-E-Lawfirmcom for a free consultation. Bellamy, thank you so much for spending time with me today. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm happy to be here. So thank you so much for all you do, all the love and hope that you put into the world. I'm glad to share it a little bit this morning and uh, and just grateful to listen to all the other that you put out.
Speaker 2:You are so wonderful. I am so excited to connect on your story of hope, Um and I. I know that there is a piece of hope that you are now putting out there, but it originates with your own personal story and how you were a caregiver for your dad. So will you tell us a little bit about your dad and about your personal story, and then we can get into some of the beautiful work that you're doing now?
Speaker 1:Thank you very much for asking. I grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina and my mom was a teacher, my dad was a tax man and auditor for the state. But he was a good guy and you didn't dread seeing him like you can. I mean he's like. You hear the word auditor and you think, oh my goodness. But when he, when he was in his fifties, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis which was a byproduct of his alcoholism. In our case it isn't at all the case that.
Speaker 1:You know, liver disease can happen for a variety of reasons. But that was our story and we very much felt like that diagnosis was our end point. You know, we'd arrived at a very sad destination and we sort of went home and closed the door and were ashamed and afraid and just had no idea that we were really just beginning a journey with liver disease. No idea that we were really just beginning a journey with liver disease. So over the next little bit of time he started changing in new ways and you know, when you live with someone and you're up close all the time, you don't always notice as things change incrementally. But what got us back to the doctor is one day he couldn't find his way home from the place he'd been working for decades. And so we went back to the doctor to say, oh my goodness, now what's happening, what's what's happening.
Speaker 2:And and this is actually a man in his 50s, so relatively young, right I? I'm in my 50s. I would like to be confusing, or more than a little bit alarming, and I don't know that we always, or that we would connect. I can't find my way home with liver disease.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the thing of it, we were given the diagnosis of hepatic encephalopathy and eventually overt hepatic encephalopathy which means overt, it's not hidden hepatic, it comes from your liver encephalopathy. It's affecting your brain. Okay, we have no idea that a liver disease could affect your personality, your comportment, how you walk, how you talk, how you remember. We didn't know it could affect your brain. So it was devastating to us because it's something that had been happening right in front of our eyes and we didn't know to look for it. So we hadn't noticed and we weren't able to have been good advocates for him or good caregivers, and it just broke our hearts. And once he got a diagnosis he was very far along, so there weren't a lot of treatment options and there wasn't a lot we could do.
Speaker 2:So there are a couple of things there. Number one this was a number of years ago, so you were quite young, so the treatment options were probably very different from what they are now. But how did this affect you as a young woman taking care of your dad?
Speaker 1:it was heartbreaking, honestly, because, um, you know, I thought my dad hung the moon. You know, I, he really was my north star and, um, as a kid, you know, you're always, you think your parents are always going to be there, and I was terrified of losing him and guilt-stricken that, um, I hadn't been the daughter that I wanted to be. You know, like that, I had let this happen on my watch kind of thing, and we kept, very, we stayed in our shame about it. There's such a stigma around liver disease, more and more, less so, because we are having these conversations and that is what gives me so much hope and light and joy. So thank you again for that and because liver disease affects so many people, right, but we didn't think about that. We just went home and were ashamed and waited it out, really, and I never want anybody to ever feel like that again.
Speaker 2:I think we have so many more open conversations about medical issues, whether they are physical or mental health related, now, so it gives me so much hope that you have taken an experience that happened to you in your teenage years and said I'm going to allow this experience to inform the work that I do now. So at what point did you say I need to be an advocate for this and how can I best help?
Speaker 1:Well, there were many, many, many decades where I continued to just be ashamed of it all and to push it away and to lock it down and really not look at it and not go through the guilt or the healing.
Speaker 1:And I'm so lucky because when I got to begin working with Salix Pharmaceuticals about getting the word out I really at first it was terrifying to tell my story, just out of so much weight that I carried with me around it, and also because I I really felt very othered and alone and um and ashamed. But I'm just telling you what, yeah, I cannot believe like, first of all, how healing it was for me to talk about it, to face it, to examine it, to put some light in that corner of my heart, but then to find the community and there is a thriving community now around this disease process, and one that those of us who are in it now just want to keep growing, because there are still those of us who are out there feeling alone and ashamed and there is no. That is a wasted moment and we have, you know, just this one life to live and we don't need to waste our moments. We need to come together, support each other and walk through everything that we're going to face, because we're all going to face something, but we can fit. We're so much stronger together and we and we can, you know, once we find our community.
Speaker 1:So it's meant everything to me. I'm really lucky because I get to do what I love for a living and lots of people talk to me about acting and projects and all different things that I've gotten to do in that regard. But when I started talking about liver disease, specifically hepatic ostemopathy, I had people come up on the street and talk to me about that now and just the relief of it not living in the shadows and that just means the world to me, like it heals. It heals the 15 year old inside of me, but it heals the five year old in front of you too.
Speaker 2:See, I love that. See, there was a piece of what you said there that gave me physical chills, because I think it is universal in its healing in that. This is why I do the podcast, right. I want people to be able to find hope in other people's strength and the community that they seek out, in recognizing that they aren't alone in whatever it is they're experiencing and you mentioned your dad's alcoholism.
Speaker 2:Anyone who listens to the podcast knows that I'm six years sober and that sobriety journey was part of while this is not a sobriety or recovery podcast, part of that informed my journey in wanting to speak to people and say look, you're not alone. We can transform tragedy and difficult moments into something that is more triumphant, and that's a large piece of what you're doing. I know that, in addition to the liver disease piece of your heart work, there is a caregiver portion to what you're doing. What do you want caregivers to know about the heart work and what they're going? Because I know that on that side sometimes we feel incredibly isolated when we move into a space where we're taking care of someone and we can feel quite alone there.
Speaker 1:Well, I was going to say it's just as important for caregivers to have community as well and their own community. I think about it and like what you're talking about in terms of like AA and Al-Anon right, there's different roads but equal need. And as a caregiver you must stay vigilant, which is an exhausting state to live in, right, because you need to be aware and watching and responsive and, you know, educating yourself and making sure your loved one has what they need. And it is a state of hypervigilance which can take a big toll on mental, physical condition of the human body and spirit. So it's of paramount importance that you remember that you matter too and that the care you're giving your loved one needs to also come towards yourself. You know you can't. If you deplete the tank of fuel, the car won't run. You know you have to keep filling up your own tank and that's not selfish, it's absolutely a survival mechanism. You have to. If it's meditation or if it's a bath, or you know if it's some sleep, it has to happen somehow. And often that can only come with the help of other people.
Speaker 1:And that's the hardest thing for caregivers sometimes to ask for help for themselves because they just don't want to bother anybody and there's so much going on and it really is vital. And I will say to anybody who's listening, who knows and we all do somebody who's going through something offer your help, you know, cook them a lasagna so they don't have to make dinner for their family that night, or offer to watch the kids for a minute so they can take a nap or just zone out on Instagram or something. Just have a second of peace to themselves, like it's um, yeah, this is a. This is a community, this world we live in. Nobody gets through this life by themselves. So we have to ask for what we need, but we also have to be watching for how we can help. You know we just engaging will just give a lot of joy in both directions. Really, it's vital to receive and to be able to receive and that is a hard lesson to learn Also such a joy to be able to give and lighten somebody else's load when you can.
Speaker 2:I know that so many of us I like to give. I know that it's harder for me to ask for help. What would you say to somebody who is in that space where they are pouring out but don't quite know how to ask for the help they may need? What's the key to doing that? Because so many people who are caregivers don't know how to ask for that key piece.
Speaker 1:Well, the most important thing is not to let it get to the point where you're asking by screaming when you're well past, when you needed help, and you're just like spent and so frustrated and just broken down Like. Don't let it get to that point. Like, love yourself enough to, even if you have to act as if, act as if you're a person who's good at acting for asking for help. Just pretend, put it on like a lab coat and try it out. You know they always say the best way to make a friend is to ask a favor, and that's still, to this day, such a hard for me as a human.
Speaker 1:I agree, but I tell myself in a very intentional and cerebral way. I try to remind myself of that every now and again. I agree, right, return when it's possible, you know. Like you know, always keep people in mind and be aware. So keep yourself in the equation as well. But, yeah, act as if. Don't let it get to the point of extreme burnout and duress. Before you reach a handout across, you know, the ocean of need to say please see me of need to say please see me, please help me.
Speaker 2:What has changed over the years in terms of HE, with what your dad's experience was, versus what episodes look like now, and what should people know? I mean, you mentioned the shame piece and the liver disease. Was this thing we didn't talk about? What do you want people to know now?
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness Well that's the other great part of this. All is so much has changed. So that's why family went through this and the disease has, you know, endures as it is. It is persistent, it comes and is episodic, but the treatment options, oh my goodness, like so much has changed and doctors know more about it now. There is a huge community of people who are living with it and people who are caring for the ones they love going through that, and there's so much information.
Speaker 1:So the first thing to know is that you're not alone, and the next thing to know is there's so much information.
Speaker 1:So the first thing to know is that you're not alone, and the next thing to know is there's so much information out there. I can support you in going to zyfaxincom. There's a caregiver's corner that you can have all the like getting ready to see your doctor, like a list of questions so you don't forget, because those are high stress moments and you get back in the car and you think, oh, I should have asked right there. You have a list and it's ready, or, um, you know, just finding different communities, maybe one in real life, near you, or one online that you can get to any hour of the day, whenever you need, uh. But yeah, that is the most most wonderful thing is that so much has changed, there's so much light, there's so much support, there's so much to know, there's so many treatment options and that they're really wonderful ways to manage this disease, to live with this disease, to treat this disease, and for that reason I give great, great thanks every moment of every day.
Speaker 2:What piece of this has been the most healing for 15 year old Bellamy? To get to the point where you are now, where it actually feels as though you are giving, in a way that you hope nobody goes through, what you went through at the time.
Speaker 1:That's such a beautiful question, danielle. I will say that that's for me, the greatest gift, beyond getting the message out itself. The greatest personal gift is putting down the weight of shame. So for everyone who's listening, whatever you're afraid to show the world, the world loves you anyway, and probably most of the world has been through that too. And just um, getting, uh, getting to a point where I can talk about things that used to really, really, um, make me hide has given me such a um, no lease on life and such a freedom of expression in my own self. Because you know, when you're always carrying something that you're hiding, you're always aware of who you are and what you're saying, what you're revealing. Don't look too close, don't mention that. And once you're free of those blinders and parameters, it's a much more authentic, wonderful way to be.
Speaker 2:I was going to say there's a lack of personal freedom there. When you are carrying something that is so heavy and when you're able to put that down in whatever form that is whether it's doing the work yourself or finding community, but really connecting with other people, there is I saw you, you know you and I get to see each other, and so some people listen to the podcast and some people watch it, but it's having that ability to take a deep breath and really feel the air in your lungs in a different way, and I can see that in you, which is really beautiful.
Speaker 1:It's wow. I see it in you too. So thank heavens for the journey, thank heavens for a life that gives us time to experience things, learn from things and grow, and also the time to reflect and learn. I really do stay so grateful, but it's also conversations like this that make all the difference. You know, I listen to things and I'm so moved and freed by people sharing their truth, and these conversations are part of it. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Danielle. Thank you, as am I. Are there any other heart projects you're working on, or anything else that you're really excited about right now that you'd like to share?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, you know, my one of my best friends and I wrote a YA sci fi novel, which sounds like a crazy thing, but we had so much fun doing it and so I'm very, very proud of it. It's the first in a trilogy. It's called the Ethereum Code. I love it. That was super fun. I'm back and forth doing a TV show called Brilliant Minds Folks can listen. I did a podcast for the humanitarian organization CARE called she Leads Care.
Speaker 2:I was listening to it and right up my alley, right up my alley talking to women around the world doing amazing things. And you know I found the podcast and I was listening to different episodes and I just that's beautiful heart work. I mean, storytelling is at my core. So listening to the work that you're doing and you're in so many different arenas and I love that. But what's beautiful is seeing how you are equally lit up by each of the pieces that you have pulled into your life.
Speaker 1:Well, I do feel very. To feel connected with people is my greatest, greatest joy, and I feel like storytelling is the method of that, like listening to people's stories, sharing my story, as I'm able to share it more authentically. It's much more resonant when it happens, but, yeah, they all light me up because it feels like all of a piece. It's connection and mutual support and I really do feel like in this life, if we can show up for each other, really see each other and listen to each other, it's just A, a joy and B, I feel, the only way we'll get where we all want to go. So I want to wind up in a better world that loves each other and lifts each other up, and moments like this are part of that.
Speaker 2:Well, I have long been a fan of yours and I am honored and delighted that you were able to take time with me today. Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you wanted to share?
Speaker 1:Oh, no goodness, this has been wonderful. I really am so grateful to get to talk about this with you. So thank you, thank you, thank you very much, bellamy Young.
Speaker 2:You are wonderful. Thank you so much for spending time with me and friends here on Hope Comes to Visit. Thank you for spending time with both Bellamy and I and I am confident you found some inspiration and some light that you can take with you and share with the people that you love. And until next time, please take good care of you and I will see you again next time. Naturally, it's important to thank the people who support and sponsor the podcast. This episode is supported by Chris Dulley, a trusted criminal defense attorney and friend of mine here in St Louis, who believes in second chances and solid representation. Whether you're facing a DWI, felony or traffic issue, chris handles your case personally with clarity, compassion and over 15 years of experience. When things feel uncertain, it helps to have someone steady in your corner. Call 314-384-4000 or 314-DUI-HELP or you can visit DulleyLawFirmcom to schedule your free consultation.