A Message From Rhonda Walker: Don’t ignore your own aches, pains or discomfort and for your friends and loved ones that are ignoring it, be that pesky person to intervene and insist on taking them to see a doctor.
June where did you go? My favorite month of the year is gone already. Happy July everyone!
Later this week marks my 6th week since my surgery, my doctor tried to tell me for major surgery like I had it would be a 6-8 week recovery but I’ll be honest as a normally quite healthy person who didn’t take a sick day the past two years, I didn’t believe him. But now I’m realizing he probably knows what he’s talking about, Lol!
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I can’t wait to get back to my awesome Local 4 work family who I miss so much and my normal routine but for now I’m just easing my way in. I’m more independent and mobile, and even ventured out of my “no make-up” and “lounge around the house clothes” this past weekend for the Rhonda Walker Foundation Sweet 16 private event to celebrate our 16th anniversary empowering Detroit teen girls. I pulled it together hair, make up, a dress and surprised my RWF family. It was a little scary being out for the first time but I just couldn’t miss the incredible moment to celebrate this milestone. Although I was moving really slow and sat most of the time it was amazing to look around and feel like someone I recognize and soak up everyone’s joy and energy. Needless to say I was exhausted afterward.
Speaking of the Rhonda Walker Foundation I would love to see you all at my 9th annual Give and Get Fit Health and Fitness event on the Detroit Riverfront Sunday morning, July 28th. I’ll be there to greet you at the finish line of our 5k and 10k. Here is the link to register for the run/walk or free fitness classes for adults and children of all ages, it’s a ton of fun and supports inner city youth.
Speaking of walking I’ve been taking short walks around my neighborhood to try and build my strength up and my girl on the morning show Kim DeGiulio joined me for a walk last week. It was great catching up, she even cooked a meal for my fiancé and me :)
I love when friends come to visit me. Evrod came over with enough food for us to eat for an entire weekend and so many of my dear friends have stopped by with cards, gorgeous flowers, candles, books and food. Being so still has allowed me to take time to reconnect with so many people I care about in addition to all the family time with my siblings and parents. I have truly been showered with so much care, love, thoughts, prayers and support, not only from people I know but from viewers I have never met that have connected with me on social media and email. Thank you all truly with all my heart for taking time to reach out to me. It keeps my spirits lifted and is just so touching to know so many people are thinking of me and care. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Lastly and perhaps more important I have a message for anyone that may be choosing to ignore issues related to your health. Maybe you have not be feeling quite right and just don’t know why. Maybe it’s an ache or pain that comes and goes or discomfort you can’t explain. But you just won’t go to the doctor to find out. Well that was me, it wasn’t bad enough to stay home from work but in silent I dealt with constant pain and discomfort that kept getting worse over time. I treated the symptoms with all kinds of home remedies and changes to my diet and had my own theories based on Dr. Google of what it might be but I just wouldn’t take the time away from my busy schedule to find out what may be going on.
Then comes that pesky, annoying friend that keeps telling me to go to the darn doctor. Rhonda did you go yet? Did you make an appointment? I just thought with more years of life you just normally start feeling differently.
Well, thank God for Pesky Annoying Friends! Sheree Calhoun a producer at Local 4, is someone I spend a lot of time with daily. She is also on the board of my charity and one of my close friends for over 25 years and she picked up on the symptoms I chose to brush off. It was early March on one of my Brag Book surprise missions for a student at a local school where I was so doubled over with these piercing pains that I was hiding from everyone else. That day on the ride back to the station Sheree refused to let me out of the car until she heard me make a doctor’s appointment. I was able to get in that day, after sharing all my symptoms, for a bunch of tests including the tell all CT Scan that revealed it was a problem that would only get worse and surgery was my best option. I am so thankful Sheree would not let it go because if she did I probably would have for no telling how much longer. I love you Sheree, thank you!
I talked it over with my fiancé and family and decided to go with the doctor's advice, all the while being terrified about telling management and colleagues at work I would need extended time off.
It was an emotional and scary time and the best way I coped with it was to keep it all a secret from coworkers and friends. I’m not sure why I’m like that about personal stuff but it just helps me stay strong, in the moment and able to perform and do all the many responsibilities I have on my plate daily.
I am an overall healthy person, I take great care of myself, never get sick from colds or the flu that would keep me home and yes can still have issues going on inside my body that can be very serious if left untreated and that’s true for all of us!
So please if you are ignoring something related to your health take a moment this week to make that doctors appointment to find out what’s going on and make it priority to do what the Doctor says to get better.
I’m hoping to get back in the saddle at work around the middle of this month and I just can’t wait until that day I feel full strength and back to myself again.
Many thanks for the thoughts, social media messages, texts, emails, calls, visits, prayers and well wishes. I truly am beyond thankful :)
See you soon and for goodness sake take care of yourself!
Love,
Rhonda
Here's what's coming up Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019 on Local 4 News Today.
Watch beginning at 4:30 a.m.
All Morning -- Holiday Week Weather
SE Lower Michigan is under a Marginal Risk for severe storms Tuesday. This again covers almost the whole Lower Peninsula as the heat and humidity will cause a few showers and storms to blossom in the late afternoon capable of producing damaging winds and dangerous lightning. After morning lows in the low 70s, highs will again flirt with 90°F and the humidity is near tropical levels and that means the heat index or ‘feels like’ conditions should be well into the mid 90s. Be careful with both the heat and storm chances tomorrow afternoon.
- You can get the full forecast here.
All Morning -- 4 Live Traffic Alert: I-75 Closures
Overnight closures resume on I-75 in Oakland County for work on bridge beams. The overnight full closures of I-75 will occur between Big Beaver Road and Corporate Drive/Crooks Road.
Our Kim DeGiulio will help you get around the construction.
6:15 a.m. -- Summer Savings
July is here and so are the summer savings. We'll reveal the coupon codes for some of the biggest retailers. You can slash prices on everything from clothing to flowers and even subscription services.
6:45 a.m. -- Tasty Tuesday
American, Italian, Greek and more. If you want a little bit of everything, this is your place! We'll take you inside the popular spot in Hamtramck that's dishing up all kinds of good food.
ICYMI
Today's Trivia Retake
Every morning at 6 a.m., we ask you a trivia question on Local 4 for a chance to win a prize.
- Monday Question: Where is the first zoo in the U. S. that opened its doors to the public for the first time on this date in 1874?
- Answer: The Philadelphia Zoo
- Be sure to watch daily at 6 a.m. and click this link to enter for a chance to win.
Today's Quiz
National Days: July 2nd
- National Anisette Day
A Look Back at History: July 2nd
- In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
- In 1867, New York’s first elevated rail line, a single track between Battery Place and Greenwich Street, went into operation.
- In 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)
- In 1892, the Populist Party (also known as the People’s Party) opened its first national convention in Omaha, Nebraska.
- In 1917, rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked black residents; nearly 50 people, mostly blacks, are believed to have died in the violence.
- In 1926, the United States Army Air Corps was created.
- In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
- In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.
- In 1997, Academy Award-winning actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 89.
Celebrity Birthdays: July 2nd
Celebrating a birthday Tuesday? Submit a Sunshine Award here and we could say your name on Local 4 News Today during our 5 a.m. show.
Here's who you're sharing a birthday with --
- Actress Polly Holliday (“Alice”) is 82.
- Writer-director Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” ″Seinfeld”) is 72.
- Keyboardist Roy Bittan of the E Street Band is 70.
- Actress Wendy Schaal (“American Dad,” ″It’s a Living”) is 65.
- Model-actress Jerry Hall is 63.
- Actor Jimmy McNichol is 58.
- Actress Yancy Butler (“Witchblade”) is 49.
- Singer Michelle Branch is 36.
- Actress Vanessa Lee Chester (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park”) is 35.
- Actor Nelson Franklin (“The Millers”) is 34.
- Actress Ashley Tisdale (“Hellcats,” ″High School Musical”) is 34.
- Actress Lindsay Lohan is 33.
Get to know the Local 4 News Today team better