Opinion: What my sister’s life and death taught me about the NIH
“A decade ago this past June, my sister died at the National Institutes of Health. I still have faith in them, and I hope that the country does, too,” writes…
A decade ago this past June, my sister died at the National Institutes of Health. I still have faith in them, and I hope that the country does, too.
When she was 10 years old, floaters appeared in Shelby’s vision. Doctors soon discovered a hemorrhaging retinal tumor. Shelby and my mother were soon both diagnosed with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL), a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the VHL gene, leading to tumors in the brain, eyes, spine, pancreas, kidneys, and adrenal glands.
