 In 1982, while working as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. Inc., Monsky was diagnosed with scleroderma and was told she had only two years to live.The rare disease hardens the skin and internal organs of young women of child-bearing age causing disfigurement, and is potentially fatal.In reaction to the lack of awareness of the disease in the medical community, she went on to found the Scleroderma Research Foundation in 1987, an organization dedicated to finding a cure.