The Friend Who Just Stands By

September 1998
Download a printable copy of this issue

Retired Marine Fights for our Lives, Jay Platt, North Carolina
Vegetables: Count on Three to Five Servings, ADA
Hastening the Road to Diagnosis: The Role of the Broad Ligament Cystadenoma in Early Detection of VHL, by Gale P. James. Ohio
There You Are!, Boston cabaret benefit night
Ask the Experts
In Your Own Back Yard, by Amy A., Louisiana
The Sky is Falling, by Patricia F., California
How Are You? Manage Your Own Medical Journey, review of a new book by Patricia Foote, California
Ask the Family: Call for input on choosing DNA testing for your children
Report from the Seattle Meeting, June 1998
Paris Conference announcement
Chapter News - New Zealand, New York
Research Grants Awarded:
- Dr. James R. Gnarra, Louisiana State University Medical School, New Orleans, $40,000
- Dr. Robert D. Burk, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, New York, $40,000
The Friend Who Just Stands By -- dedicated to Jay
VHL Video Now Available!
VHL: Quest for a Cure: Raising Research Funds

"I’d like to dedicate this poem to Jay for his continued love and support, my husband and friend,"

-- Tania D., Ontario, Canada.

When trouble comes your soul to try,

You love the friend who just "stands by."

Perhaps there's nothing he can do --

The thing is strictly up to you;

For there are troubles all your own,

And paths the soul must tread alone;

Times when love cannot smooth the road

Nor friendship lift the heavy load,

But just to know you have a friend

who will "stand by" until the end,

whose sympathy through all endures,

Whose warm handclasp is always yours--

It helps, someway to pull you through,

Although there's nothing he can do.

and so with frevent heart you cry,

"God bless the friend who just 'stands by'!"

Written by B.Y Williams, published in Poems That Touch The Heart by A.L. Alexander

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 6:3, September 1998. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.