Mouse over the Eyewitness News Story Window above for an abc7.com Extra of Dana Delany's conversation with George Pennacchio.
"It literally means hard skin, and it's when your body overproduces collagen and connective tissue gets hard," explains Delany. "So you can have it outside, and your skin gets really hard, or the connective tissue around your organs hardens -- and that's the worst kind, because it will suffocate your organs and you kind of die inside."
Dana's celebrity, including her latest role on "Desperate Housewives", helps her get the word out so money to find for the disease will come in.
"You know, I've got cancer in my family. I've got Alzheimer's in my family. But I've taken on scleroderma - take it on - because it's the orphan disease. Nobody wanted it, you know? It's the one nobody wanted to speak up for, and I just think it's really important, because it's about 300,000 Americans a year get diagnosed with it," said Delany.
On Wednesday night, Bob Saget, who's sister died from scleroderma 14-years-ago, hosts the foundation's annual fundraiser, "Cool Comedy - Hot Cuisine."
"Bob Saget's the emcee, so it's very funny," said Delany. "And we have John Mayer performing. We have Sarah Silverman performing, Jeffrey Ross. It's going to be a big night."
The scleroderma fundraiser is Wednesday night in Beverly Hills. Tickets are available to the public. Click here for more information.
Mouse over the Eyewitness News Story Window above for an abc7.com Extra of Dana Delany's conversation with George Pennacchio.
