Sarah Chalke appeared in Grey’s Anatomy as a guest star on March 28 and this inspired her to talk about her child’s disease. In the show she plays a mother whose child suffers from Kawasaki’s disease but the very same thing happened to her in a real life so she decided to share the experience.
When her son was only 1 year old she noticed that something was wrong but the doctors she saw couldn’t set the right diagnosis. After 10 days of research she found out that it was Kawasaki’s disease. “It’s a very visual disease,” Chalke said. “It’s a high fever, and then everything because of inflammation goes red. So it’s red, bloodshot eyes, red lips, red rash and red hands and feet, and then the last telltale sign is the skin on the fingers peels back. It was absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, and there’s nothing in the world like not knowing if your kid is going to be OK.”
Fortunately, her son recovered and appearing on the show was very emotional. “As an actor, you’re usually like, ‘Will I be able to cry when I’m supposed to cry?’ But this is more like, ‘Will I be able to stop crying when I have to stop crying?’ ” Sarah shared.