An Oklahoma news anchor had the beginnings of a stroke during a live TV broadcast Saturday, she said after she appeared to struggle to speak in the on-air incident.
In a video of the newscast shared online, Julie Chin, a reporter with NBC affiliate KJRH of Tulsa, appears to struggle through a live report about an event marking the attempted launch of NASA’s Artemis I rocket.
Chin revealed in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday that her doctors believe she had the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full one.
In a Facebook post the next day, Chin said she had felt fine before the newscast.
“The episode seemed to have come out of nowhere,” she said. “I felt great before our show. However, over the course of several minutes during our newscast, things started to happen. 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.”
“I’m sorry, something is going on with me this morning, and I apologize to everybody,” she finally said, going off script. “Let’s just go ahead and send it on to meteorologist Annie Brown.”
Brown took over the broadcast without a hitch. However, Chin could still be heard apologizing for her inability to speak clearly off-camera.
“Julie, we love you so much, we love you so much,” Brown said when the broadcast cut to her, “We all have those days.”
Fortunately, her co-workers took quick action, Chin said, and called 911.
She said she spent the last few days in the hospital undergoing testing, but in Tuesday’s 6 p.m. newscast, anchor Karen Larsen said Chin is recovering at home now.
The brave news anchor said, “I’m glad to share that my tests have all come back great. At this point, doctors think I had the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full stroke. There are still lots of questions and lots to follow up on, but the bottom line is I should be just fine.”
Chin explained that she has no family history of strokes and believes she can “handle stress” adding that the morning the incident occurred she “had a good night’s sleep.”
After the scary moment, Chin was grateful for her co-workers that sprung into action to call for help. Chin also had an important message that people can take away when it comes to their health.
“When it comes to anything medical, if you think you need help, if something’s really not right, don’t be afraid to ask for help,” she said. “I tried to talk through [the stroke] and that wasn’t the best thing to do.”
Chin said that the viral video “maybe not her proudest professional moment, but people have been so kind and they’ve been cheering me on and praying for me and our family couldn’t be more grateful.”
Watch the video below for more details:
Source: AWM