TRIUMPH
OVER
TRAGEDY
Dawne Gee recounts her blessings after a stroke
BY LYNNE CHOATE
PHOTOS BY DANNY ALEXANDER
W
Who would have thought you could find blessings beyond measure after
a stroke? Dawne Gee did. And in true triumph-over-tragedy fashion, she is
recounting those blessings every chance she gets.
Just before Thanksgiving last year, Gee, 54, suffered what could have been a
life-ending stroke while on the air as she anchored the WAVE 3 evening news.
In the week leading up to the stroke, she recalls feeling “just not right.
“I went to my rheumatologist, orthopedic specialist and an immediate care
center all before attempting to finally take the doctors’ advice to rest,” Gee said.
“My legs were swollen two to three times their normal size, and I just felt bad.”
Despite her best intentions, Gee didn’t get the rest her body so badly needed.
On Thanksgiving Day, she was called to report live from the scene of a mass
shooting at a well-known Louisville event.
She was back to work on Black Friday and remembers experiencing some
chest pain. She had nitroglycerin tabs for angina, a heart condition that causes
chest pain. By the time the 7 p.m. newscast started, she had taken three tabs
and was counting down the minutes until she could go home. She told herself
to just read what was on the teleprompter: “You can do that – just read.”
Little did viewers and her co-workers know, she was seconds away from
having a stroke on live TV.
“I remember tossing to the weather segment and feeling like I had to sit down
while I was off camera,” she said. “I could hear (WAVE 3 Chief Meteorologist)
Kevin (Harned) doing his weather forecast and preparing to send it back to me,
but by then I was sitting on the floor and wasn’t sure how I would get back up.”
With all her might, Gee was able to pull herself up to a standing position
as the camera turned back to her. She tried to speak, but she had no control.
“From there, I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the emergency
room,” she said.
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EXTOL • JUNE/JULY 2017