Oklahoma news anchor Julie Chin turned her journalist’s lens onto herself this weekend after being forced to ditch her live broadcast when she suffered the “beginnings of a stroke” on air.
She was reporting on the Artemis I launch on Saturday morning on KJRH-TV when she began stumbling over her words.
“The Tulsa – the Tulsa Air and Space Museum is hosting a launch today at the, at the, at the, event,” she said. “The event features a live …”
She interrupted herself to apologize.
“I’m sorry, something is going on with me this morning, and I apologize to everybody,” she said. “Let’s just go ahead and send it on over to meteorologist Annie Brown.”
Brown said, “We love you so much” before launching into the weather report, as Chin could be heard saying in an undertone, something like, “not feeling well.”
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, her colleagues sprang into action. They could tell something was wrong. They called 911, and she was taken to the hospital.
Chin confirmed it all Monday in a Facebook post on her personal page, even as she continued to educate viewers. She started with profuse thank yous for prayers, concern, messages, texts, emails and calls, and said she was on the mend. Then she explained what from.
“I’m so glad to tell you I’m OK,” she wrote. “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 whole thing came “out of nowhere,” she continued.
“I felt great before our show,” Chin wrote. “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. 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 had been in the hospital since, undergoing tests that “have all come back great,” Chin wrote. “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.”
Her most important takeaway, she said, was learning the beginning signs of a stroke.
“It’s not always obvious when someone has a stroke, and action is critical,” she said, revealing the acronym BE FAST as a way to get ahead of symptoms at the outset.
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
“I’d appreciate your continued prayers as we do a little more testing and we continue to look into this,” she concluded. “In a few days I’ll be back on the desk sharing the stories I love with the community I love. Thank you all for loving me and supporting me so well.”
