Al Roker returns to Today following health scare: 'He is a living, breathing miracle'

Al Roker has made his long-awaited return to morning television after suffering a recent health scare that involved multiple hospitalizations.

Accompanied by his wife Deborah Roberts, the beloved Today weatherman was welcomed back onto the show by his co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Carson Daly, and Craig Melvin on Friday morning.

"My heart is just bursting. I'm just so thrilled to see all of you, all the crew, and everybody," he said. "Right now I'm running on adrenaline, so I'm just thrilled to be here."

Roker announced that he had been hospitalized due to multiple blood clots in his leg and lungs in November. He later returned home — and missed his first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 27 years — only to be readmitted for a second time for further complications just a day later.

Roberts praised her husband's recovery and the doctors that fought to save his life. "It's not lost on us that this is a major, major thing for Al to be here: He is a living, breathing miracle," she said. "Al was a very, very, very sick man. And I think most people did not know that."

She noted that, for a period of time, Roker was a "medical mystery" to his doctors and called the entire experience "the most tumultuous, frightening journey" their family has been on.

To which Roker jokingly remarked, "I had no idea how bad off I was. I thought I was doing pretty good!"

The TV personality revealed that he underwent major surgery in order to correct "two complicating things" happening internally.

"I had blood clots that, they think, came up after I had COVID in September, and then I had this internal bleeding going on," Roker said. "I lost half my blood, and they were trying to figure out where it was. Finally, they went in, did this surgery, and it ended up [being] two bleeding ulcers, [they] had to resection the colon, take out my gallbladder, [and] redo my duodenum."

He then joked, "I went in for one operation — I got four free!"

Roker said he felt supported by medical staff, television family, and fans wishing him well throughout the healing process: "All these doctors, I knew they had my back. And the nurses and the staff — I'd never been in a medical ICU, let alone a surgical ICU. They were fantastic."

He continued, "I'm blessed. I have great health care. But I had this woman next to me taking care of me, and my family and this family here."

He also took a moment to encourage viewers to make healthy decisions in their own lives. "Each of my doctors said if I wasn't in the shape that I was in, this might've been a different outcome," he said, stressing the importance of "just getting out and walking."

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