In 1994, Bob Saget’s sister, Gaye passed away of a rare disease called Scleroderma, which literally means ‘hard skin’, it’s an autoimmune disease that causes an overproduction of collagen.
It can cause major damage to internal organs Saget said that his sister went to dozens of different doctors in order to get the right diagnosis, some said that it was lupus, others chalked it up to ‘mental illness’, but finally she was diagnosed with scleroderma in 1994, a condition that not much was known about back then.
Bob Saget’s final interview
In his final interview with CBS News, Saget, who had a foundation dedicated to research and funding for the disease, described his sister’s symptoms as her telling him that her skin was constantly ‘on fire’. After his sister’s death he said that he simply could not watch what happened to his sister happen to anyone else.
Even over 28 years after his sister’s passing, Saget still got choked up when talking about her. He said that it was a ‘three to four year process’ and that it was an unbearable loss. Saget’s sister was only 47 years old when she died.
Of his sister, he said, “She has an angelic look about her. There’s something very sweet.” he also said that during his sister’s last moments, he and his family could literally “feel the soul pass from her body”, he even felt his hair move! That’s when he said that he would continue this fight “when I’m gone”.
Indeed he did.
With his final interview, he brought attention to the disease that had killed his sister so many years ago. In a way, you could say that Saget managed to complete his life’s work, and has kept on, even from the Great Beyond with this interview.
Saget said that the only thing that helped his family through the tragedy was laughter, and that laughter was healing. He said the first time that he realized that he was funny, he was about four years old and that people were laughing at (or rather with) him.
He said that to really do his sister justice would be to really make strides within the next decade or two in the fight against the disease. After Saget’s death, the Scleroderma research foundation got a gift of $1.5M to continue their fight in this disease. So it looks like indeed, the strides will be made. Stay tuned!!!
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