Vicki Lawrence Shares Thoughts on Becoming the Face of Unusual Affliction

Vicki Lawrence knows acting, best known for playing the role of “Mama” on both The Carol Burnett Show and the 1980s sitcom, “Mama’s Family” in which she starred. Lawrence knows comedy, still touring the nation with her popular “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show,” when she dresses and acts as the popular character. She knows singing, too. While in the midst of an 11-year run on the Carol Burnett Show, Lawrence released “The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia” - which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

But there was one situation Lawrence didn’t expect, nor know anything about. It came some four years ago when she first noticed her skin itching.

“I remember waking up one day with my hand itching, so I told my husband to go buy a lottery ticket because this is my lucky day,” she recalls.

The itching continued and spread the next day, and even more the day after. Soon later, larger welts would show up and she began to wonder if she was doing something differently to cause it.

“I got in the shower, turned the water as cold as I could get it until I was about to pass out. I put lotion on and just wanted to pass out on my cool sheets and take a break,” she said. “People would tell me, I must be using the wrong soap, that I should stay away from red wine or go on a holistic diet.”

Puzzled, she went to see her allergist - a really good one based out of Long Beach, CA - she says.

“For weeks, we tried to get rid of the hives to no avail.”

After six weeks, the diagnosis came in. One that would flip her career focus.

“He said I had CIU,” Lawrence remembers - hearing about the disease for the first time.

CIU stands for Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. The “chronic” means that symptoms last six weeks or more. “Idiopathic” means that there is no explanation for what’s causing it and “Urticaria” is the medical term for hives.

“He (the allergist) explained all that and said there were about a million and a half people who had the same thing,” Lawrence said.

Despite the surprisingly high number of those being treated, CIU was much of an unknown illness. Unless someone had a highly touted allergist like Lawrence did, there really wasn’t anywhere for someone suffering from the chronic hives to turn.

So she decided to make sure the word got out there, thus assuring people would know they are not alone in this. The accomplished actress partnered with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to launch CIUandYou.com, a website devoted to sharing information from experts on the condition.

“I just want people to know they aren’t alone in this,” Lawrence said. “There are a lot of good folks there (on the site) who know what they are talking about. We hope it will be a place people can go to get a good dermatologist and find a solution.”

The site includes a diary where one can track their hives. Patients can also find Vicki’s story and get tips on how to navigate the healthcare system since the hives need to be active for six weeks or more to be considered chronic.

“I’ve met so many people through the program that have been seeking answers for years but haven’t found any,” she said.

Becoming the face of CIU

Telling your own story about CIU with symptoms like these may be something difficult for most. But that was not an issue for the Emmy-winning actress.

“I didn’t care,” she said. “I’m happy to share it. I’m used to making people laugh.”

If it’s a good vehicle to make the condition more visible it’s worth it, she says.

Why show business?

It was the career path that wasn’t supposed to be.

“I didn’t feel like I was going to do this for a living,” she said. “I thought I would become a dental hygienist, marry a rich dentist and hang it up. I feel like I’ve been kidnapped by show business and it’s been an awesome adventure.”

The dental hygienist plan changed when as a high school senior, she wrote Carol Burnett a fan letter with a newspaper photo of herself with a caption indicating she looked like “a young Carol” just before Vicki was to take part in a talent contest for the local fire department.

“So she looked my Dad up in the phone book, called and said I want to see this contest,” Lawrence told Windy City Live recently. Burnett told her she’d sit back and watch the contest and then call back in a few weeks to discuss her career.

“Nobody does that - nobody but Carol,” Lawrence said.

Her friendship with Carol and the show’s cast continues to this day. There is a plan in place to meet up at CBS Studios in Hollywood next month for a mini-reunion.

Lawrence says some unseen episodes of The Carol Burnett Show during its first five seasons will soon be released on DVD. As part of bonus material when the collection is released, some old friends will act out an original scene more than 40 years later.

“I’m sure Tim (Conway) will be there and I’m hopeful Lyle (Waggoner) will be too,” Lawrence said.

In addition to performing her comedy show, which will return to the Chicago area in November with a stop in St. Charles, Lawrence says she is “just trying to stay out of trouble.”

Thoughts on Chicago

Although born and raised in California and making a career on both coasts, Lawrence said she is a big fan of the Second City during her March visit as part of an effort to promote CIU awareness across the United States.

“I love Chicago,” she said. “It’s the city you kind of wish New York could be sometimes. It’s a little smaller, but just as fun and exciting.”

“Although I am not a fan of your weather,” she added. “It’s 82 at home (in California) and I’m here (on a typical 30-degree day in late March).”

In a roundabout way, Lawrence may have had quite an impact on the history of entertainment in the city. Better yet, the entire course of television history may have been much different had she made a different choice more than 30 years ago.

Chicago’s long-struggling WLS-TV morning show AM Chicago was seeking its next host and trying out a few options on a week-to-week basis. After Lawrence gave it a go, the show’s producers liked her so much they offered her the full-time gig.

“I remember being surprised, but unsure if I wanted to just get up and move to Chicago,” Lawrence recalls.

She punted on the decision. The next week, a young talented Baltimore anchor named Oprah Winfrey took her turn.

The rest is obviously Chicago television history.

“I’d also like to tell you about the time I turned down the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz,” she joked.

Photo: Emmy-award winning actress Vicki Lawrence was diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) by her allergist after six weeks of experiencing hives with no detectable cause.