NF1 NF1 is the more common type of the neurofibromatosis, occurring in about 1 in 4,000 individuals in the United States, including Porter Colley. Although many afflicted persons inherit the disorder, between 30 and 50 percent of new cases arise spontaneously through mutation in an individuals genes. Once this change has taken place, the mutant gene can be passed on to succeeding generations.  Previously, NF1 was known as peripheral neurofibromatosis (or von Recklinghausens neurofibromatosis) because some of the symptoms  skin spots and tumors  seemed to be limited to the outer nerves, or peripheral nervous system, of the afflicted. This name is no longer technically accurate because central nervous system tumors are now known to occur in NF1. Around 50 percent of the individuals with NF1 suffer some sort of learning disability.  NF2 NF2 is the less common neurofibromatosis and afflicts about 1 in 40,000 persons. NF2 is characterized by bilateral (occurring on both sides of the body) tumors on the eighth cranial nerve. It was formerly called bilateral acoustic neurofibromatosis or central neurofibromatosis because the tumors, which cause progressive hearing loss, were thought to grow primarily on the auditory nerve, a branch of the eighth cranial nerve responsible for hearing. Scientists now know that the tumors typically occur on the vestibular nerve, another branch of the eighth cranial nerve near the auditory nerve. The tumors, called vestibular schwannomas for their location and for the type of cells in them, cause pressure damage to neighboring nerves. In some cases, the damage to nearby vital structures, such as other cranial nerves and the brainstem, can be life-threatening.  Sources: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health, the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation, Inc. and the University of Iowa.
There were two little kids who looked at me.  I terrorized them, just looking at me.  Their eyes filled with tears and one ran into the house and the other threw his arms around his mother's legs. </