Viewers of WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin may have been wondering what happened to anchor and reporter Sarah Thomsen, who has been off the air for months.
The station recently reported that she is recovering from a severe concussion suffered in a car crash in May. Thomsen has worked at the station since 2003 and has anchored the 4 p.m. newscast since 2006.
“It’s been a long four months. A long four months. Longer than I thought it was going to be,” Thomsen told the ABC affiliate. “I think I’m getting better, but it’s really slow.”
“It’s that divided attention where I’m trying to think of words at the same time as reading it for comprehension.”
Since the accident, she said she’s been experiencing headaches, dizziness and blurred vision. She sees a speech therapist twice a week and also does cognitive exercises at home to speed her recovery.
When she’ll return is still in question. One of her doctors said recovery is never as fast as expected. “It’s just one of those things that’s just a time thing,” said Jeremy Metzler, medical director at the Prevea Concussion Clinic.
“I’m trying, going as fast as I can. It’s just a slow, slow process, but I’ve gotten so many cards and letters and messages from people—I’ve tried to read as many of them as I can, but if I didn’t respond to them, it’s hard to do that, it takes a lot of thinking,” said Thomsen. “So I haven’t responded to a lot of them, but read them at least or had someone read them to me so I appreciate, I’ve felt all of it.”