Cervenka, 53, posted this statement on her site:
After some months of not feeling 100% healthy, I recently had some medical tests run and the prognosis is that I am suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently, it has been affecting me for quite some time.
Although this is obviously unfortunate news, I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990's; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.
While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall on Bloodshot Records.
My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health--many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis and I plan to be one of those people.
Cervenka last performed in St. Louis on April 4, opening for fellow punk icon, Lee Ving of Fear, at Deluxe in Maplewood. Prior that gig, Cervenka and her new band, the Original Sinners, opened in June 2008 for Rancid at Pop's, and X played Pop's a few months before that, in March, celebrating the band's 31st anniversary.
She now lives in Wardsville, Missouri, a few miles south of Jefferson City, with her husband, Jason Edge, formerly of St. Louis surf combo the Honkeys.
Cervenka is best known as a founding member of X, whose 1980 album Los Angeles, influenced not only punk bands, but the city as a whole, eventually receiving the trivia-worthy "Official Certificate of Recognition from the City of Los Angeles" in acknowledgment of their important contributions to the city's music and culture.
