A morning news anchor in Oklahoma has revealed that she suffered the "beginnings of a stroke" while reading the news live on air.
Julie Chin, of Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH, was delivering a story about NASA's canceled Artemis-I launch when she suddenly found herself stumbling over her words as she was reading off her teleprompter.
Bewildered and stuttering, Chin tried to push ahead but found herself unable to. She then said: "I'm sorry, something is going on with me this morning and I apologize to everybody," before moving on to the weather broadcast.
After gracefully dipping out of the program, the journalist later disclosed on her Facebook page that she had been taken to hospital where doctors said that she suffered a partial stroke.
Watch the video from the broadcast below:"First of all: Thank you," Chin wrote on Facebook on Sunday (September 4). The prayers. The concern. The messages. The texts. The emails. The calls. I’m so grateful. And I’m so glad to tell you I’m OK."
"The past few days are still a little bit of a mystery, but my doctors believe I had the beginnings of a stroke live on the air Saturday morning. Some of you witnessed it firsthand, and I’m so sorry that happened.
"The episode seemed to have come out of nowhere. ... first, I lost partial vision in one eye. A little bit later my hand and arm went numb. Then, I knew I was in big trouble when my mouth would not speak the words that were right in front of me on the teleprompter," she continued.
"If you were watching Saturday morning, you know how desperately I tried to steer the show forward, but the words just wouldn’t come," she added.
The news anchor said her coworkers quickly called emergency services, and she was taken to the hospital where doctors ran tests on her and suspected that she had likely suffered the start of a stroke, "but not a full stroke".
Chin also emphasized how it is not always clear when people have a stroke but taking efforts to recognize it is crucial. She shared with readers the common public health acronym: "BE FAST".
"B.alance (Sudden loss of balance), E.yes (Sudden vision changes), F.ace (Facial droop), A.rms (One arm drifts downward), S.peech (Slurred/confused speech), T.ime & Terrible headache."
The journalist noted that she was still at the hospital undergoing some tests and that she planned to be back delivering news on camera within a few days.
We wish her a speedy recovery!
