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Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:31am on Friday, July 24th, 2009

Olene Walker has been interviewed by hundreds of reporters in her role as a politician, but an interview this month will likely be the most compelling from the former Utah governor. Governor Walker, who served as Utah's governor from 2003 to 2005, will be sharing her personal struggle with a fatal lung disease.

Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF), a disease that will likely claim her life, has no known cause and no cure, and little name recognition outside of the patients and families who are affected. In an effort to change that, Gov. Walker will be appearing on ABC 4 Salt Lake City's Good Things Utah show on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 along with PF researcher and physician, Mary Beth Scholand, M.D. of the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Gov. Walker hopes her appearance on Good Things Utah will help inform people about PF, the severity of the diagnosis and the urgent need for treatments, though there may not be one in time to save her life.

"I am fighting for my life and the lives of so many others who are suffering from this horrible disease," said Olene Walker. "I am lucky to still be here and to be able to be a voice for so many who are struggling to breathe."

PF affects 128,000 Americans and claims 40,000 lives each year, the same as breast cancer. On average, patients live less than three years after diagnosis with the lung disease that is characterized by progressive and irreversible lung scarring.