Loriana Hernandez left Austin FOX owned station KTBC earlier this month. She told viewers she was leaving to be with her husband and two year old son in Washington, D.C.
But, as Austin360.com reports, when Hernandez had some blood work done as part of the process to have a second child via in vitro fertilization, doctors found she had leukemia.
“The doctor called me crying,” Hernandez told Austin360. “I said, ‘What? You must be kidding.’ I was yelling and crying. It was unreal.”
Sadly, her doctor wasn’t kidding. She was very, very ill.
Hernandez wasted little time, booking a last-minute ticket and arriving at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital late Monday. She expects to start six weeks of on-and-off chemotherapy Tuesday or Wednesday.
“They told me, ‘This can’t wait,’” she said.
The support from friends, former co-workers — and viewers who’ve never met the vibrant broadcast journalist — has been, from the start, overwhelming, Hernandez said. She says she is so incredibly grateful.
“I’m so touched,” she said. “My stomach hurts from crying so much, but I know I can beat this. I can kick its ass. I look at my precious son and I say, ‘Failure is not an option.’”