WASHINGTON — Al Roker shared Thursday afternoon that he is back home following a second lengthy hospital stay.
The "Today" show co-anchor and meteorologist was first hospitalized last month because of blood clots in his leg and lungs. He was initially released on Thanksgiving, but was reportedly rushed back to the hospital a day later due to "complications."
"Home! So incredibly grateful to family, friends, medical folks, @todayshow family and all your thoughts and prayers," Roker wrote in posts on Facebook and Instagram, accompanied by photos of him and his family.
Hours earlier on Thursday morning, Roker had shared that he was "Hopefully coming home soon but when your spirit sags a bit, you get to see that and recharge. God Bless you all for all the prayers and well wishes for me and my family."
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The health issues caused Roker to miss his first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 27 years — an absence noted by many longtime parade viewers.
During the parade broadcast, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb sent well wishes to Roker.
“For the past 27 parades, at this moment, we would turn to Al Roker, who’s our TODAY show colleague and our best pal, but as a lot of you have heard, Al’s recovering and he’s recovering very well from a recent medical issue,” Kotb said during the parade. “We just want to say, ‘We love you Al, we wonder if you’re watching, but we wish you a full recovery.’”
On Thanksgiving, Roker posted to social media saying he was at home watching the parade on TV after being discharged.
Back in 2020, Roker was off the air for a couple weeks after undergoing surgery to have his prostate removed. Roker revealed at the time that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer but that they had caught it early. Roker explained at the time that he decided to publicly share his diagnosis to encourage others at risk — particularly Black men — to ensure they see a doctor and get the proper checkups to stop a cancer that is very treatable if detected early.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
