family

Hi
I was diagnosed when I was 15, it comes from my grandfather on my mothers side. My mom passed away from it in 1966, she was actually diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it was actually the vhl that caused her problems. We were diagnosed when my sister began having problems with her vision in 1976. She eventually lost her sight. I myself have had 3 laser treatments on my right eye, 5 on my left and I lost my left eye in 2000. It had deteriated so much that it had to be removed. We so far have had no problems with our other organs. yet. But out of my mothers siblings, only 1 has survived. and she showed no indication that she had ever gotten the gene. Mom had 7 siblings and they all died from complications of the disease. Only 2 that I know of 2 uncles that actually died because of vhl. the rest because of something that happened after getting a kidney transplant. I had one uncle who went to have a kidney removed and the doctors actually removed the good kidney and when they went to correct the procedure, his body wouldn't accept the kidney that they had removed. So guess what, he was dialysys for the remainder of his life. I really try not to focus on the disease, I know that it will cause me problems in the future, but you know what? my father has high blood pressure and diabetes, my father in law has diabetes. Everyone has something! So you deal with it and go on.