President's Message

From ThyroWorld Volume 4, No 1

by Lawrence C. Wood, President

Who would have guessed that October 2000 would see TFI's thyroid member organization leaders from Finland, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and the United States all gathered in Kyoto, Japan to share their experiences in helping educate and support thyroid patients throughout the world? Although we share common goals, we're not all doing the same thing to meet them. Rather, each organization is undertaking unique projects to meet the particular needs of its patients. The real joy is that many of us who hear these projects described can use the same educational principles and programs in our home countries.

We also had a wonderful experience of sharing in the history of thyroid research. I'm sure none of us will forget the moving words of Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto as he described his father's incredible discovery of the "new disease" of chronic thyroiditis which we now know as Hashimoto's disease in honor of that great scientist and surgeon.

Like all past meetings of the Thyroid Federation International, we sampled the culture of the country we were visiting. Dr. Hashimoto himself was gracious enough to take us on a walking tour of the parks and temples in the ancient city of Nara, south of Kyoto. We also heard the music of Japan, old and new, in concerts given at the International Thyroid Congress. A parade through Kyoto introduced us to some of the history of Japan, as participants marched in traditional costumes of past centuries.

The traditional tea ceremony, the parks and palaces, and a focus on spirituality and inner peace are memories that I will have for the rest of my life.

While we were gathered in Kyoto, the sad news of Diana Abramsky's death reached us. Whether we knew her personally or not, we all felt the loss. As I wrote in a letter of condolence, "For me personally, the world of patient education seems a little empty now without Diana's presence, but I know that those of us who work in the same causes will continue to feel her inspiration forever."

I hope that all our member organizations are planning to attend this year's TFI meeting at the annual Congress of the European Thyroid Association in Warsaw, Poland.

Do your best to obtain travel funds for Warsaw and we at TFI headquarters will again try to obtain grants for those in greatest need. So if you missed last year, please try extra hard to come in 2001.

Come feel the excitement of others helping thyroid patients in their own special way and share with us what you have learned.