See Al Roker Return After Life-Threatening Hospital Visit
Al Roker is slowly recovering from serious complications resulting from Covid-19 that kept him sidelined from the Today Show.
After being sidelined from the Today show for two months due to illness, Al Roker returned to the broadcast on January 6. Accompanied by his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, the beloved weatherman shared some details about his illness. The 68-year-old said he was dealing with internal bleeding and blood clots. The latter was a result of Covid-19, which he contracted last year.
The procedure was seven hours long. “I went into for one operation and got four free,” Al Roker joked. When asked how he feels now, the weatherman said he feels “really good,” but still gets tired a lot. “I’m sure I’m going to collapse like a stone after this is over because this is the first work I’ve done,” he explained. The 68-year-old also credited his returning health to his wife, Deborah.
“She [Debroah] basically shielded me from a lot of this,” he said. Al Roker added that he had no idea how sick he was. “I am a living example of ignorance is bliss,” the weather presenter continued. He explained that he was able to put all his energy into recovering because he didn’t realize the severity of his illness.
Al Roker was first hospitalized for a month in November 2022. Doctors found two blood clots in his legs that had moved into his lungs. As a result, he was unable to host the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in 27 years, Today reports. The beloved television personality was discharged on Thanksgiving but had to return to the hospital soon after. He finally went home on December 8, 2022.
The ordeal was the first time Al Roker had been in intensive care and its surgical unit. “We were extraordinarily concerned about Al,” Doctor Felice H. Schnoll-Sussman told Today. “He had a life-threatening experience,” she continued. His wife also shared how scary his condition was for her and their children, Courtney, Leila, and Nick.
“He is a living, breathing miracle,” Deborah said. She added that her words aren’t overstating it because most people didn’t know how sick Al Roker actually was. According to the Mayo Clinic, blood clots can be life-threatening when located in a person’s legs, as they usually travel to the lungs. When that happens, it is known as a pulmonary embolism, which is a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in your lungs that blocks blood flow.
Al Roker’s health troubles come after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020. But fortunately, his doctors caught it in time. He had surgery in November of that same year, and in January 2021 received the good news that his cancer was “considered undetectable,” Hello Magazine reports. The 68-year-old is the current weather anchor on NBC’s Today show and occasionally co-hosts 3rd Hour Today. He also has an inactive American Meteorological Society Television Seal.
