Henrietta was born in Sweden on Saturday, July 22, while her father, Mikael, was attending the VHL Symposium, 7000 miles away in Rochester, Minnesota.

"I´ve been aware of the fact that VHL runs in my family ever since I was a child. My father died from a VHL related brain tumor in 1961, when I was three. But not until last year, when my five-year-old daughter got a tumor in her eye, did I start to really look in to what VHL is. The Family Alliance, has been of immense value to me -- and my daughter. The tumor was very near the optic nerve and her vision was 10% in that eye. The doctors in Sweden were insisting on laser treatment, which would have ruined the central vision. Through the Alliance I got in contact with a German professor, Michael Foerster, who managed to save my daughter’s eyesight! Prof. Foerster operated, using a partly new technique, and today no one can see a trace of the tumor in her eye! She is wearing an eye patch over the good eye to make the bad one work harder, and she is up to 80% vision."

"My wife and I decided that I should come even though the baby was due to arrive, because of the importance of this information to myself and my family. It’s been a wonderful experience!"

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 8:3, September 2000. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.

mystory