Candidates for Board of Directors, VHLFA

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Jeanne McCoy, Greenville, South Carolina, candidate for re-election

Jeanne McCoy is an active community volunteer, serving the Junior League, the American Cancer Society, the Greenville County Legal Auxiliary, and her children’s school. A former French teacher with degrees from Wake Forest and the University of Georgia, Jeanne is now a stay-at-home mother to her three children. Her husband, Ellison, is a labor and employment law attorney. Jeanne was diagnosed with VHL in 2003, less than a year after her mother’s diagnosis. Her grandmother lived to the age of 82 despite suffering blindness and other ill effects of VHL. Since her diagnosis, Jeanne has had two neurosurgeries and two kidney surgeries. Jeanne’s personal and family experience with VHL have led her to be a vocal advocate for those whose lives have been impacted by VHL and cancer in general.

During her first term on the VHLFA Board Jeanne also served as President of the Junior League.  She has gained a great deal of practical experience in working with Boards which she is looking forward to sharing with the VHLFA Board.  Jeanne intends to use her board membership as an opportunity to develop additional outreach programs regarding VHL.

John Wallace, M.D., Emergency Medicine, Mahattan Beach, California

My wife’s and my avocation to the VHL cause began last August with our 7-year-old daughter’s diagnosis of VHL.  This will be a lifelong journey.  We have not yet begun to scratch the surface of the support services offered by the Alliance to all in the “family”.  These support services are an incredibly important aspect of what the Alliance offers.  In addition, fruitful research in biochemistry, medical devices/equipment and treatment/screening programs are the key to what the future holds for anyone who carries the genetic makeup.  None of the previous will be possible without successful fund raising that reaches beyond the green shoot level of our immediate family.  Under Joyce’s leadership and with all of your participation, a lot has already been accomplished and yet there clearly is much more to do.

I currently juggle my clinical duties as an “ER pit Doc” with business duties as a managing partner, other hospital duties, as well as all those activities that constitute all of our lives including managing my daughter’s illness, screening program and deciding where and by whom she will be followed in the future blended with the attempt to assure her a “normal” childhood.  Nonetheless I can certainly commit to Board teleconferences during the year, and I have great interest in collaborating with Joyce regarding medical research to try and push the current state of knowledge and treatment forward.  My interest and passion for the cause will not change. 

Bill B. Scheitler, LeMars, Iowa, candidate for re-election

Bill and his wife Judy, a registered nurse at Floyd Valley Hospital in LeMars, have three children. Son Bill and his wife Jane live on the family farm with their three children; Richard and his wife Jennifer live in Los Angeles, California; Jodi and her husband Matt live in LeMars, Iowa, with their two children. Bill is president and CEO of S&H Marketing in Remsen, Iowa, an agricultural consulting firm. Bill has traveled throughout this country and approximately 20 other countries representing the United States, the State of Iowa, and the Cattle industry.

“Communication, education and research are the three areas of focus that I believe are extremely important to the VHL Family Alliance. These areas of interest need to be addressed throughout this country and the world community.  My daughter’s two surgeries this year underscore the need for less damaging ways to stop tumors.  We need to facilitate progress in any way we can.  There is always more to be done.” Bill looks forward to continuing to serve the VHL Family Alliance.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 18:2, May 2010. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.