VHL Victor

By Wheatley Davis, from the Facebook page: VHL: Spreading Awareness of von Hippel-Lindau

“VHL Victor” is just a phrase I coined by accident. Often we hear about “Survivors”—Breast Cancer Survivor, Survivors of 9/11, etc. Well, when I put up this post a month ago just to introduce myself to the group, I didn’t want to say “I’m a VHL Survivor”. While it is true that we all have “survived” through the turmoil that VHL may bring to ourselves and/or our loved ones, I prefer to think of us as VICTORS, as in we are VICTORIOUS simply by living with (and in spite of) VHL—while it may attack our bodies and those whom we love, we must remember that we are NOT simply “VHL patients”—we are people who are AFFECTED by it, not DEFEATED by it. My Mom died due to a complication related to her VHL brain lesions, but, I still consider her a “VICTOR” because she lived a full life filled with family, love, laughter whenever possible, and she remains a beacon to those of us who knew her. I refuse to say VHL “defeated” her, because it didn’t. She never let it do so. I strive to do the same.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 19:3, September 2011. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.

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