For those that follow Al Roker on social media, you know that Al Roker – America’s favorite weatherman – has been urging others to get outside, walk daily, and stay active in any way possible. He sees the incredible impact it has on his life everyday and wants others to feel that same impact in their lives.
With that said, you might’ve noticed that he hasn’t been posting about his daily walks on social media and hasn’t been taking part in any walking challenges over the past five months or so. While that’s very unlike him, it’s highly understandable when you consider all the health struggles he has experienced recently.
In November 2022, he was admitted to the hospital and treated for blood clots. He was scheduled to have one surgery, but it quickly turned into a seven-hour surgery after they found two bleeding ulcers. He ended up needing to have his gallbladder removed, colon resectioned, and small intestine operated on.
Not only that, but Al Roker has overcome a battle with prostate cancer, hip replacement surgery, carpal tunnel surgery, a back operation, and several knee replacement surgeries in the past. Despite all that, his wife described his latest health scare as ‘the most tumultuous, frightening journey we have been on.’
It might’ve kept him away from his regular walking routine for the past five months, but it wasn’t going to keep him away from it any longer. That’s what made his most recent health update so inspiring as he took to Instagram to share a photo of his pedometer on Tuesday (March 21) morning – he’s officially back at it!
“Before my left knee went south, a 10k+ step day was no big deal. Today was the first day, I felt good walking this much. But the knee replacement of this 22 year old knee replacement is just around the corner,” he wrote in the caption. Despite it being just 8:47 a.m., he had already logged 11,184 steps!
Many people took to the comments section to offer their support as he continues to recover and prepares for his second knee replacement surgery – which he thinks will happen sooner, rather than later. The comments section was also flooded with others who had their knees replaced – some more than once!
Al Roker Credits His Walking for Saving His Life
In January, Al Roker made his official return to the TODAY show and discussed more details about the tumultuous health struggles he experienced over the past few months – which were life-threatening, to say the least. Nonetheless, he credited his walking habits as one of the things that helped save his life.
“My doctor said the physical condition I was in because of the walking — because of the cardio — that probably helped save my life,” he said. “Whatever you do to start moving, to start getting up and doing stuff — it doesn’t matter how much or how little as long as you’re doing something — that makes a big difference.”
Last year, he discussed how he stays motivated to keep walking and how he maintains the motivation to stay active. He says you have to learn to ‘talk to yourself’ and compare how you’ll feel if you don’t go for a walk to how you’ll feel while you’re walking – or better yet, when you’re done with your walk.
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He also talked about how removing the word ‘only’ from his vocabulary has helped him. “Stop using the word only. So many of you on our (Start TODAY) Facebook page were talking about, ‘Oh, you only did this, you only did that. The fact is, you got it done, you made it happen, and that’s what counts,” he said.
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