An Oklahoma news anchor suffered the beginnings of a stroke on air, leaving her stumbling over her words and forced to cut the broadcast short on Saturday morning.
Julie Chin, of Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH, was delivering a story about NASA‘s cancelled Artemis-I launch when she suddenly found herself unable to speak the words she was reading off her teleprompter.
Bewildered and stuttering, Chin tried to push ahead with the broadcast but soon found herself completely unable to speak her script aloud.
‘I’m sorry, something is going on with me this morning and I apologize to everybody,’ she finally said, going off script and tossing the broadcast over to the weather team, ‘Let’s just go ahead and send it on to meteorologist Annie Brown.’
Brown seamlessly took over the broadcast as Chin could be heard trying to utter an apology off camera.
‘Julie we love you so much, we love you so much,’ Brown then said with a laugh as the broadcast cut to her, ‘We all have those days,’ Brown continued.
But it wasn’t just one of those days for Chin, who did not return to the airwaves after the weather was reported. Instead, colleagues in the newsroom called 9-11 and Chin was rushed to the hospital.
Chin appeared bewildered by herself as she was suddenly unable to speak the simple words she was reading off the teleprompter in front of her
On Sunday evening Chin took to Facebook to explain that she was in good health, and that doctor’s believed she suffered ‘the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full stroke.’
‘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,’ she wrote, ‘There are still lots of questions, and lots to follow up on, but the bottom line is I should be just fine.’
Chin explained she had felt fine before the broadcast, but that her condition deteriorated suddenly and rapidly.
‘The episode seemed to have come out of nowhere. 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. If you were watching Saturday morning, you know how desperately I tried to steer the show forward, but the words just wouldn’t come.’
Chin posted this photo of herself at the hospital while recovering from the stroke. She said she was okay and expected to be back to work within days
She also thanked a number of her colleagues who she said recognized what was happening and sprang to action.
‘I’m so grateful for your quick action. I’ve always said I work on the best team, and this is one more reason why,’ she wrote.
Chin noted that while she was still at the hospital undergoing some tests, she planned to be back on camera within a few days.
‘My Dad jokes this is the first extended period of time I’ve spent by myself since my son was born, and he’s right,’ she said.