DAWNE GEE
Photo by Norton Healthcare.
“I don’t want to, but I have to,” she said. “I
physically can’t keep up that schedule anymore.
My body is recovering and I physically can’t do
all the things I use to do.”
Truth be told, she shouldn’t have been
overextending herself at all. She knows that
now but admits that it’s hard turning down events
when the causes are near and dear to her heart.
Gee has faced mixed responses from people
when she has declined speaking engagements
over the past few months.
“People see me on TV and think, ‘Oh, she’s
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doing great,’” Gee said. “What they don’t see is
that I sit down during the commercial breaks, that
I get tired very easily and that I get very anxious.”
All of these are common side effects after
a stroke.
‘If it hadn’t been for those around me’
When Gee started experiencing stroke
symptoms, thankfully those around her knew the
signs and acted quickly to get her lifesaving help.
Harned quickly noticed that something just
wasn’t right.
“I noticed she was sitting on the floor rubbing
her leg while I was doing the weather. I thought
something was odd then, but we’re on live TV,”
said Harned, a long-time friend and colleague
of Gee’s. “Then I noticed as she began to give
the news that she was slurring a bit and having
trouble reading. Within seconds she was on the
ground. I called out to the floor crew to call 911.”
Gee attributes the crew’s fast action with saving
her life.
Aaron Ellis, assignment editor, was working that
night but was in a different area of the building. He