Hi, What your friend suffers from is a dilation of the veins in his esophagus (the tube that connects the throat and the stomach). This disease usually occurs in people with liver diseases, a blockage in his veins (thrombosis) or by excessive drinking (which from what you ve mentioned is the most likely cause in this particular case) The good news is that his dilated veins are bleeding yet and he was diagnosed before that happened. As such there are two things your doctor can do for him- -give him beta blockers, which reduces the the blood pressure and hence reduces the chances of bleeding -ligation using elastic bands, this is an endoscopic surgery where the surgeon will tie off the varcies that seem most likely to bleed. After one of the above two treatments, your friend will have to follow these rules strictly to avoid complications - -stop drinking alcohol -healthy diet -dont gain too much weight If your friend follows up with all these things properly, there shouldnt be any cause for him to die early because of esophageal varices and you two can get married and live together happily for many many years to come. But still make to go for follow up check ups, to make sure that everything is still okay, dont ever skip follow ups. I hope this helped and I hope you two get married.