State Sen. Carole Migden revealed for the first time Wednesday that she has been battling leukemia for nearly 10 years and said the medication she takes could have been a factor in her erratic freeway driving last week that the California Highway Patrol is investigating.
Migden was involved in as many as three accidents on Friday, twice hitting the center divider on Interstate 80 and then rear-ending a car that was slowing to make a stop near Fairfield, according to the CHP. The driver of the car Migden collided with suffered minor injuries.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Migden said she remembers being distracted while using her cell phone immediately before the rear-end collision, but she said she does not remember hitting the freeway median.
"My only explanation is that it is medically related in some way," said Migden, 56, who represents San Francisco and Marin County.
Migden's announcement about the illness she had concealed for nearly a decade comes as CHP officials are widening their investigation into her driving. Officials have been reviewing 911 calls of motorists who saw Migden driving Friday and described her state-leased Toyota SUV as traveling erratically.
Migden said that over the course of battling her illness, she has not experienced a similar sense of disorientation while driving. The medication Migden is taking, Gleevec, has not been associated with the kind of behavioral problems she described, but the disease itself can cause neurological symptoms, according to an independent oncologist interviewed by The Chronicle.
The Democratic lawmaker, who showed a reporter medical records about her case, said she plans to get a full physical examination and neurological tests to determine what might have caused her erratic driving last week.
"I owe an explanation to the public and myself and, in particular, the person I hurt," Migden said, referring to the driver of a Honda sedan injured in the rear-end collision. "I don't have a recollection of what happened. I can only conclude I had a medical event I can't explain. It's not an excuse; it may be an explanation."
Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Cal State Sacramento, said the public is "very forgiving of health-related issues. Knowing this makes her more human, more vulnerable."
On the other hand, O'Connor said, "The timing is helpful to her politically because mea culpas work. It's convenient to bring it out as a reason for erratic behavior."
Migden said she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in October 1997. Doctors said a bone marrow transplant was the only cure. She and her partner, Cris Arguedas, searched for a match but found none.
Migden was told she had three to five years to live.
"You feel fine. You look fine, and you're told you will die," a sometimes tearful Migden said in an interview at her San Francisco home, accompanied by Arguedas.
Migden's first two cancer treatments proved ineffective. The second treatment was made from the bark of a tree in China. It was infused through a hole bored in Migden's chest. She lost her hair and wore loose-fitting coats to mask the infusion box at her waist.
She became part of one of the initial clinical trials for an experimental drug in 2000. In February of this year, her doctors at UCSF told her she was disease-free, but she still takes six chemotherapy pills a day.
Migden told no one of her illness, in part out of fear that she would appear politically vulnerable.
"I didn't want to be pitied. I didn't want to be seen as a goner. I believed I would live. I never lied, I just chose not to disclose," Migden said.
Legislative colleagues defended her decision to keep her illness private.
"It's remarkable she was able to do a job like this with that kind of condition," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland.
"There are very few things you can keep quiet, and your health is one of them. Only if the condition inhibits your work is a public explanation needed," Perata said. "When you can't remember what happened when you were driving, that's when it has begun to affect your public position, and it's time to disclose."
Migden told CHP officers Friday that she had gotten lost while driving to Marin County for a meeting when she rear-ended a car driven by Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo at Beck Avenue and Highway 12 in Solano County. Migden's office released a statement that day saying her cell phone had rung and, in reaching for the phone, she had taken her eyes off the road.
After reviewing 911 tapes from motorists reporting an erratic driver in the area Friday, the CHP broadened its investigation. One motorist reported that he had seen the San Francisco Democrat driving erratically and striking a guardrail on I-80 near the Highway 37 exit in Vallejo on Friday. The CHP says it has another report of Migden striking the I-80 center divide near Emeryville.
"I remember the drive. I remember talking on the phone. I remember brushing up somewhere, but not where it happened. I remember the accident. I have no recollection of hitting the median on I-80, let alone twice," Migden said Wednesday.
"I don't have an explanation for that. I don't. I don't recall it, and I don't think that's a satisfactory answer, so I'm going to put myself in the hands of a doctor," said Migden, sitting cross-legged on a rocking chair.
CHP Officer Marvin Williford said the agency had "five or six credible witnesses" who saw Migden's traffic incidents. Migden was examined after the rear-end accident by officers, who found no evidence of alcohol. Migden has not been cited for any traffic violations, and CHP officials said they will turn their findings over to the Solano County district attorney.
Adrian Romo, a witness to the rear-ender, told KTVU News that Migden screamed to the driver of the vehicle she had hit that she was a senator.
Another witness told officials that he believes he saw Migden traveling east on I-80 at 80 mph, reading and talking on the phone while driving.
Last year, Migden voted for a bill which, starting July 1, will require drivers using cell phones to use hands-free devices.
Dr. Tim Mulligan, an oncologist at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, said Migden's type of leukemia is well known to cause neurological problems, although they tend to afflict only a small portion of leukemia patients.
When the disease is not under control, the flood of cancerous cells can literally thicken the blood. "It doesn't flow through the capillaries very well. Sometimes that can induce a sleepiness or a stupor, " he said.
Most leukemia patients do not suffer neurological symptoms, however. Mulligan said it is more common for patients to suffer from a swelling of the liver or spleen, and the medication Migden is taking has not been linked to the type of problems she described.
Migden said she intends to run for re-election in 2008. She is being challenged by San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno. Leno is making an unusual bid to unseat an incumbent from his own party, and the contest has divided Democratic faithful in the Bay Area.
"I'm heartened to learn that Sen. Migden is disease-free," said Leno. "I will be praying for her continued good health and well-being."
How the illness will affect the race is unknown, but health issues have become central to some legislative races. State Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, repeatedly stressed that she was a cancer survivor in her winning 2006 campaign.
Chronicle staff writers Matthew Yi and Sabin Russell contributed to this report. E-mail Greg Lucas at glucas@sfchronicle.com.
Carole Migden


California Senator Carole Migden has revealed that she is suffering from leukemia and that medication prescribed to her may have contributed to a car accident she caused on May 18. Earlier Migden said that she was driving her state-leased SUV while reaching for her cell phone.

The announcement comes when witnesses called police to say that Migden was weaving along Highway 12 in Solano County, California. They also reported that she drove over the center median on several occasions and that after the accident she got out of her car and proceeded to yell, "I'm a senator!." Witnesses say that she "didn't seem all there at the time."

According to Migden, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia in 1997, but did not reveal to the public her disease because she did not want "pity" from anyone. Migden also says that back in February, she was pronounced as "disease free."

Migden says that she had an unexplained medical event and that her medication claim is not an excuse for her driving.

"I owe an explanation to the public and myself and, in particular, the person I hurt. I don't have a recollection of what happened. I can only conclude I had a medical event I can't explain. It's not an excuse; it may be an explanation," said Migden.

Authorities have stated that they recommended charges of "unsafe driving" be filed against Migden, but that the incident still be investigated.