Jeriann Ritter, a beloved Iowa meteorologist who has been keeping the public informed about the weather since 2004, has shared a heartbreaking update about her health.
Keep reading to learn more.
49-year-old Jeriann Ritter, who is the meteorologist for WHO13, revealed on air to her audience that she has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is known as ALS.
“I pray every day that a miracle is going to happen. I keep thinking, ‘It could be something else. But if the doctors are right, I’m probably done telling you about the weather,” she said in her personal announcement.
The disease has recently been in the news again because of actor Eric Dane’s death because of it. The disease causes progressive paralysis of the muscles; people who suffer from it lose their ability to swallow, speak, move, and even breathe independently.
The condition does not yet have a cure, and once diagnosed, people have a life expectancy of about 3 to 5 years. However, for some people, the progression of the disease can be a lot slower, as in the case of Stephen Hawking, who lived for decades after his diagnosis.
Ritten said in the emotional admission that she first began to see symptoms last summer when she experienced numbness on one side of her face and also had some issues with speech.
But because she wasn’t in any pain, she assumed it must be related to her teeth and went to see her dentist. However, when that led to no answers, she suspected it had something to do with a stroke and investigated the matter further.
After months of doctors’ appointments and rigorous testing, she was finally diagnosed with ALS.
While she searched for answers, Ritter was still working her regular job as a meteorologist on television. However, even her viewers noticed that something was not right.
“Viewers started sending me messages in late November. ‘Are you drunk? Are you okay?’ Those [messages] hit me hard. People think I’m drunk? I was trying so hard to disguise it,” she recalled her experience.
“It is killing me that something that came so easy is so hard now. When I was having the speech problems on TV but still working, I knew what I was facing but the people watching me did not. It started to open my eyes, you never know what people are going through. So just remember that,” she told her viewers.
She reassured her viewers and fans that she was not alone in any of this, commending her husband and children for how well they took her diagnosis, standing by her side.
“They said, ‘Wow Mom, are you gonna fight?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah I’m gonna fight but there’s not a lot you can do. So instead, I’m gonna do what I’ve always done for almost 50 years of my life. I’m gonna live and I’m gonna love. And that’s what I’m doing,” she said.
“I’m gonna finish this race strong. There is not one ounce of ‘I’m scared.’ It’s like, I’m gonna miss out but I’m gonna have fun doing it,” she said as she cried.
We are sending our best wishes to Jeriann Ritter and her family. Share this with others so they can keep up with the latest news as well.
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