Chin says, "There are still lots of questions, and lots to follow up on, but the bottom line is I should be just fine."
On September 3, Julie Chin, the Oklahoma news anchor, was hosting a live broadcast reporting on the attempted launch of NASA’s Artemis I rocket. She suddenly started to have trouble speaking. "I'm sorry," Chin said, stopping the broadcast and transferring it to meteorology. "Something is going on with me this morning and I apologize to everybody," Chin said, per NBC.
Tulsa news anchor Julie Chin has the beginnings of a stroke live on the air. She knew something was wrong, so tossed it to the meteorologist, as her concerned colleagues called 911. She’s fine now, but wanted to share her experience to educate viewers on stroke warning signs. pic.twitter.com/aWNPPbn1qf
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 5, 2022
Chin has now disclosed an unsettling and incomprehensible text she wrote her husband after the broadcast. “I need help. Something is not Run today. My work won’t work is working my help my,” the anchor had texted. In an interview aired on NBC's TODAY show, Chin shared, “I never send messages like that, obviously.” She added, “That just shows my state of mind that morning. I just couldn’t put any words together as hard as I tried."
Julie Chin, the Oklahoma news anchor who had the beginnings of a stroke during a live TV broadcast, shares the incoherent text she sent her husband after the broadcast. https://t.co/jVqzZsBlqV
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 8, 2022
Chin told TODAY that she feels "good" and is still looking for medical reasons. She was taken to a hospital after her colleagues quickly called 911 where she underwent "all sorts of tests." She says the doctors think she had "the beginnings of a stroke but not a full stroke," but beyond that what exactly happened to her is still unknown.
She revealed that she has no family history of strokes and believes she manages stress in a healthy manner. She was as shocked as everyone else about the stroke symptoms. “I felt great that morning. I had a good night’s sleep … I felt good and that section that everybody’s seen me struggling with, I wrote that little section! I knew what I was trying to say like the back of my hand. It just obviously wouldn’t come out of my mouth,” she explained.
However, when she started to feel unwell during the telecast she did everything she could. "All I can say is during those live TV moments, I tried to steer the ship as gracefully as I could," she wrote in a Facebook post.
"There are still lots of questions, and lots to follow up on, but the bottom line is I should be just fine," she wrote in another Facebook post. She added, "*Most importantly* I’ve learned that it’s not always obvious when someone has a stroke, and action is critical. This acronym helps identify the symptoms to look for: BE FAST and then if needed, be fast and call 911."
Chin is referring to BE FAST, which the American Stroke Association describes as the first signs to look out for to identify if one is experiencing a stroke. It stands for "Balance", "Eyes", "face drooping" or numbness of the face; "arm weakness" or numbness of the arms or legs on one side of the body; "speech difficulty" or slurred speech; and "time to call 911." The last one makes people remember to call emergency services when there is a suspicion of a stroke. The ASA explains that since strokes affect women more frequently, they must take greater care. More women than men die from strokes, with stroke being the third leading cause of mortality among women. In actuality, 1 in 5 women will experience a stroke, according to ASA.
References:
https://www.stroke.org/en/help-and-support/resource-library/fast-materials
https://www.stroke.org/en/about-stroke/stroke-risk-factors/women-have-a-higher-risk-of-stroke
Cover Image Source: Twitter | @MikeSingleton
