A California meteorologist fainted on air Saturday morning just as her segment began, startling her colleagues.
Alissa Carlson Schwartz, a meteorologist at CBS L.A., was preparing to deliver a weather report during the outlet’s 7:00 a.m. broadcast when she tilted her head forward at her desk and then slid out of her chair.
Upon realizing what had happened, the show’s anchors responded with shock before cutting to a commercial break.
“Thanks for all the texts, calls & messages. I’m going to be ok!” Schwartz later wrote in a Facebook post.
TMZ noted that Schwartz have previously discussed having a heart condition, which she said she discovered after a 2014 episode in which she vomited during a newscast. It is unclear whether her collapse on Saturday is related to this condition.
In a 2018 segment for KGET, where Schwarz then worked as the chief meteorologist, she said the health scare led to a doctor’s appointment and the discovery that she had a leaky heart valve, which would likely need to be replaced at some point in the future.
Later, nine months after giving birth to her daughter, she said she began to experience chest pains. After seeking medical attention, she learned stem cells from her daughter had caused the valve to “repair itself.”
“The stem cells from my baby had started to heal my heart,” she said tearfully, “I feel like I owe it to people and everybody and to God to give back and to spread this story and to realize that you may have something that you don’t even know you have.”
Schwartz was inspired by her condition to become an advocate for heart health, even serving as chair of the American Heart Association’s Circle of Red Initiative.
KGET reported in 2018 that Carlson had been named Mrs. California and later placed in the top 15 in the Mrs. America Pageant.
