Rick Scott Off to Kansas City, as his Mother is Seriously Ill

Gov. Rick Scott has canceled all his afternoon plans in order to travel to Kansas City, Mo., where his mother Esther has been seriously ill.

The following message was posted on Scott's Facebook page.

Please pray for my mother, Esther. She is in the ICU fighting an infection. This has been a tough year for our family. Ann lost her father in January and her mother in September.

Esther Scott, 88, who was a prominent feature of Scott's gubernatorial run in 2010, appeared with her son at the Florida delegation breakfast during the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August.

Scott had been scheduled to have lunch Thursday with Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, attend a press conference at WorkForce Tampa and have a telephone conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.