Viewers of WSFA, the NBC affiliate in Montgomery, Ala, may have noticed the absence of anchor John O’Connor over the past two weeks. He had good reason to be out. On Wednesday, November 5, O’Connor, 58, had unexpected open heart surgery and six bypasses.
“I went from not even thinking about it and less than a week later, I’m on the operating table,” O’Connor told WSFA reporter Morgan Carlson.
In the video above, O’Connor explains how it all started about two weeks ago, when he experienced some chest pain climbing a flight of stairs. The pain progressed over the weekend, spreading from the right side of his chest to a numbness in his arm. That’s when he went to the the walk-in clinic and received his diagnosis.
Doctors told O’Connor that his heart is otherwise healthy and that his condition was genetic.
O’Connor will spend the next several weeks in recovery. His anchor chair will be waiting for him upon his return: “When John is ready to come back, we will welcome him, and you will see him anchoring and reporting on WSFA 12 News again.”