Bob Saget was best known for his celebrity-news” target=”_blank”>comedy and his acting<, an autoimmune condition that ultimately took the life of his older sister, Gay.
According to the Mayo Clinic, scleroderma “is a group of rare diseases that involve the hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissues.”
Saget, who was found dead Sunday at age 65 in us-regions, sat on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), first joining the organization in 2003, according to the foundation’s website.
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Bob Saget dedicated a great deal of time to helping to find a cure for scleroderma.
(Getty Images)
“Bob’s openness and generosity brought many people to the SRF who would have otherwise never heard of scleroderma,” their statement reads. “Our community often faces difficult losses, and Bob was uniquely driven to provide comfort and strength to all of us and the families most impacted by the disease. He was always the ‘big shoulder’ we could all lean on.”
Saget’s sister died of the disease in 1994 at age 47 after just three years battling the condition. In a 2011 interview with Ability magazine, Saget said his sister had been “misdiagnosed many times” before doctors found the correct condition she was suffering from.
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“Unfortunately, rheumatologists in a lot of places don’t have very many scleroderma patients come through their labs, and no one knew what to do with her,” he said at the time. “I wish I’d known then what I know now.”
In fact, Gay’s battle with scleroderma was the basis of “movies” target=”_blank”>For Hope<, ellen-degeneres” target=”_blank”>Ellen DeGeneres<
Among his work to find a cure for the disease was lobbying in washington-dc” target=”_blank”>Washington, D.C<
In addition to his sister Gay, Saget’s family lost two children born before the actor, one had been given the name Bob.
Then in 1985, years before Gay’s passing, Saget’s other sister, Andrea, died of a brain aneurysm.
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“So please come back to me for the brain aneurysm issue!” he joked.
