After beginning to stumble over her words and experience the first symptoms of a stroke, an Oklahoma news presenter disclosed she had it live on air.
Julie Chin, an employee of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, NBC affiliate KJRH, was taken to the hospital on Saturday after she was unable to read the teleprompter in front of her.
“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,” Chin said in a Facebook post late Sunday.
“The episode seemed to have come out of nowhere. I felt great before our show,” she continued.
“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.”
Chin was reporting on the NASA launch that had been postponed when she looked noticeably perplexed and began repeating herself.
Chin finally apologised to the audience after struggling for a few seconds, stating, “I’m sorry, something is going on with me this morning.”
Chin left the air for the remainder of the broadcast after passing the reins quickly to meteorologist Annie Brown for a weather update.
“My co-workers recognized the emergency situation unfolding and called 911,” Chin said in her post.
The anchor claimed that in order to identify the cause of her on-air incident, she underwent a battery of tests in the hospital.
“At this point, doctors think I had the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full stroke,” Chin revealed.
“There are still lots of questions, and lots to follow up on, but the bottom line is I should be just fine.”