Local News Anchor Suffers Stroke on Live TV

By Daniel S. Levine

News anchor Julie Chin of Tulsa, Oklahoma is on the road to recovery after she suffered the "beginnings of a stroke" live on air on Sept. 2. Chin struggled to speak full sentences after sharing updates on the Tulsa Air and Space Museum's plans for a watch event timed to the Artemis I rocket launch. After throwing the broadcast to meteorologist Anne Brown, the staff at KJRH called 911 and Chin was rushed to the hospital.

Chin felt "great" before the broadcast began, but "things started to happen" a few minutes into the show, Chin wrote in a Facebook post on Sept. 4. At first, she lost partial vision in one eye, then her arm and hand 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," she wrote. "If you were watching Saturday morning, you know how desperately I tried to steer the show forward, but the words just wouldn't come."

Her colleagues understood an emergency was unfolding and called 911. "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," Chin wrote. She spent a few days in the hospital undergoing several tests. She thanked her friends, family, and KJRH co-workers for covering her shifts while she takes time off.

Thankfully, all of Chin's tests came back looking well. "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."

Since the incident, Chin has been trying to take it easy, but she admitted that was not easy. "I did open my work computer yesterday, and my husband said, 'Close that computer,'" she told KJRH in an interview that aired Tuesday. "And the good news is that everything came out great, that they didn't see anything major that was really scary to them... But the bad news about that is that we don't know why it happens. And if it could happen again."

Chin now hopes to raise awareness of the warning signs of a stroke. She shared the acronym "BE FAST" from the American Stroke Association in her Facebook post. It stands for:

  • Balance (Sudden loss of balance)
  • Eyes (Sudden vision changes)
  • Face (Facial droop)
  • Arms (One arm drifts downward)
  • Speech (Slurred/confused speech)
  • Time to call 911

In a follow-up Facebook post, Chin confirmed she was now home and was still "trying to make sense" of what happened. "I have read every single one of your messages, and I plan to reply to them all," she wrote. "But for now, I've promised my family I would rest, and make up for the snuggle time that I missed while I was in the hospital away from home." 

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