State Senator Sharon Runner announced Wednesday that she has been placed on the lung transplant list due to her ongoing battle with limited scleroderma.
“After several lung infections, the doctors have put me on the lung transplant list,” Runner said in a statement. “Because I am susceptible to infections, I will be working away from the office for the time being.”
Runner, 57, said she would continue to carry out her responsibilities with the same level of dedication her constituents have come to expect.
“While I will not physically be in the office, I will continue to serve the citizens of the Antelope Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley and the High Desert thanks to telephone, email and all forms of electronic communications,” Runner said in the statement. “As always, my dedicated and experienced staff will continue to provide assistance with all state-related matters.”
In 2008 Runner disclosed she had limited scleroderma and had been dealing with the condition for more than 20 years. Limited scleroderma, or CREST syndrome, is an autoimmune disease that affects the body’s connective tissue. There is no known cure for the disease, but there are a variety of treatments for its symptoms.
An estimated 300,000 people in the United States have scleroderma, according to Scleroderma Foundation. The average age of diagnosis is 40, and about 80 percent are women.
“Given my overall good health, combined with my age, the doctors expect me to make a full recovery,” Runner said in the statement. “And I look forward to continue the fight to protect Californians.”
miffed american says
She may have and she may have had a recovery and then relapsed. It happens all the time. I hope she heals soon and that she can get the transplant needed. I hope she can continue to do the great job she is doing presently . Lets hope she can and does get what she needs to become well once again.
Jacky Johnson says
If relapses happen “all the time” why is she running for an office that, per her own words, is to dangerous for her to go to work? This illness, that can disappear and reappear in less then a year is obviously going to affect her job. We’re not talking minor. A double lung transplant for crying out loud. Surely you Repugs got someone else to run. Or is the crap the good old boys have pulled over the years here so bad you can’t even let others in your own party know about it?
t says
^^^coming from a sorry [removed] democrat who couldnt get elected as Dog Catcher to save her life. the democratic party is so sad in the Antelope Valley that even democrats vote for republicans!
Jacky Johnson says
Righttttttttttt! Your for a man who got a $100,000 dollar a year job between terming out of office in 2002 with our money, for a job that never existed before or since. A man who got elected, and then cost us a couple $100,000 more because he doesn’t want that office anymore, he wants another one. So we hold another election to get his wife in who is to ill to go to work. Yeah right, the repugs are brain surgeons. Who can argue with such great use of our tax dollars. Idiot! Keep paying for the runners exorbitant life style. And if the dems are voting for these losers they deserve them! Just like you.
Matt Keltner says
What Sharon has isn’t that much different from chronic asthma or lupus, which are also auto-immune diseases. If I were her, though, I would have given my health a higher priority than holding public office. She has to be extremely careful of allergies that could trigger bronchitis and exposure to cold viruses which can easily cause pneumonia in someone with her condition. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me. The best place to be for someone like her is over on the Coast, where her lungs can breathe fresh, ocean air.
Erick Byarushengo says
I keep saying, she shouldn’t be in the Senate. I’m really concerned because if she gets re-elected, I don’t know if she might make it throughout the entire term. She really needs to take a rest and simply not run.
jo says
Wait a minute. Didn’t this chick get up in front of everyone saying she had had a miraculous recovery, and she had been taken off the lung transplant list just last year? You know. When she was running for her husbands seat?
Why? Surely George’s government insurance from sitting on the BOE would of covered his wife. Did they really fear losing that double per diam that much that she had to run again? When she can’t breath while walking. Or talking? Why is this woman in office, instead of home?