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Mac Attacked by Rare Disease

article excerpt:


The 46-year-old star of Fox's The Bernie Mac Show announced Thursday that he has sarcoidosis, a rare and sometimes life-threatening autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the body's tissues, most frequently in the lungs.


Mac, who first made the disclosure via Star magazine's Website, issued a statement through his publicist saying he was first diagnosed with sarcoidosis in his 20s.


"I've had sarcoidosis since 1983, and it has not altered or limited my lifestyle," Mac says. "No one knows where sarcoidosis comes from or where it starts, and there's no known cause for this condition that effects primarily minorities."


Last summer Mac's health became an issue when he was hospitalized after completing work on Ocean's Twelve. Filming on the fourth season of The Bernie Mac Show was subsequently delayed.


Initially, a Fox rep said Mac was merely taking a self-imposed hiatus because he was suffering from exhaustion, brought on by a heavy work schedule that included his TV show and the Ocean's Eleven sequel, along with the baseball film Mr. 3000 and the upcoming Guess Who, the racially flipped update of the 1967 drama Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, in which he plays a dad upset his daughter wants to marry a white guy. The network later said Mac was suffering from pneumonia.


But now, his spokesperson tells Star that Mac "had double pneumonia which weakened his lungs and his entire immune system, and the sarcoidosis symptoms became pronounced."


The disease can prove fatal in about in about five percent of cases and is cited as the cause of death for football great Reggie White last December. Hall of Fame basketball player Bill Russell also suffers from the disorder.


Mac's publicist, Matt Labov, is quick to point out that sarcoidosis is a "treatable illness and not deadly." In his statement, Mac says, "I still walk, play basketball and do normal things...Since sarcoidosis hasn't slowed me down, then it shouldn't be a concern for others."


The Chicago native says he has visited several sarcoidosis patients at La Rabida Hospital in Chicago.


"I'll be devoting my summer to creating the Bernie Mac Foundation. Through my ongoing and private efforts, I'm organizing a golf tournament in Chicago, and the proceeds will be given to different sarcoidosis organizations. I hope to announce further details about this soon."


Fox, meanwhile, says that since a healthy Mac has returned, there have been no further interruptions to filming his sitcom, which airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Production is complete on about half of its 22 scheduled episodes.