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Reporter’s bizarre on-air episode raises questions
Yahoo News ^ | February 15, 2011 | Joe Pompeo

Posted on 02/15/2011 1:14:06 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

One of the most memorable performances from Sunday night's Grammy broadcast was also one of the most terrifying: Serene Branson, an Emmy-nominated CBS entertainment reporter began speaking gibberish during the network's post-Grammy newscast. However, after initial fears that Branson may have suffered a stroke on-air, she is reportedly doing OK.

"She was examined by paramedics on scene immediately after her broadcast. Her vital signs were normal. She was not hospitalized," the CBS affiliate that employs Branson said in a statement posted late Monday on its website. "As a precautionary measure, a colleague gave her a ride home. And while Serene says she is feeling better today, she wants us to know she followed-up with a visit to the doctor for some medical tests."

Nevertheless, the unfortunate incident, which went viral on YouTube Monday but has since been removed from the site, left viewers wondering what exactly happened, and whether they had indeed witnessed a stroke on the air. You can watch a video of the difficult moment here, courtesy of ABC News:

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; TV/Movies; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: abc; cbs; gibberish; goodmorningamerica; grammys; jesseweinberger; kcbs; keithblack; nancysnyder; nbc; news; reporter; serenebranson; stroke; today; youtube
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To: NoLibZone
I must confess my sin. When I first saw the video I laughed harder than I have laughed in years. LOL! Some in this household did also. I guess I am alone with this?? Just kidding you. See I got a response on this story here. Interesting for me still the responses. :)
21 posted on 02/15/2011 1:36:27 PM PST by ColdOne
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To: DManA

There is a sort of macabre bootleg live recording of the Edvard Grieg A Minor Concerto from 1951 with Ormandy and the Philly at Carnegie Hall. The pianist was the legendary Simon Barere. Barere suffered a fatal stroke during this performance.

After the opening tympani roll and the thunderous cascade of chords down the keyboard during the intro you hear a loud clanging discord then a thud as Barere’s dead body hits the stage to screams from the audience.

Then of course there’s baritone Leonard Warren’s famous final exit at the end of his big aria in Verdi’s “Il Forza del Destino” onstage at the old Met........


22 posted on 02/15/2011 1:36:31 PM PST by Emperor Palpatine (I'm shocked! Shocked to find out that gambling is going on in here!)
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To: Joe 6-pack

With you. I don’t think that was a drug reaction. There was some kind of stroke or seizure there.

To go home after that? If you are having a stroke, that first golden hour is essential. You have to have meds within three hours after you have it, or you may end up with permanent brain damage.

There have been many regretful people who have gone home to “sleep it off” after a stroke.


23 posted on 02/15/2011 1:36:39 PM PST by I still care (I miss my friends, bagels, and the NYC skyline - but not the taxes. I love the South.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
She does in fact to appear to have experienced a minor apoplectic fit or even a stroke.

I know this because I have done this several times.

It is probably genetic, and likely a form of slight epilepsy related to dyslexic that is not currently identifiable.

The only way to know for sure is the family history.

24 posted on 02/15/2011 1:37:28 PM PST by mmercier
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I live in LA and CBS2 has been trying desperately to not even mention her name, just saying how she is doing well and she will be back on the job “Soon” the moment it happened, they quickly went away from her, I guess assuming at first(What others might have been thinking) that she was drunk or on something, that it wouldn’t look good for the network to have a drunk reporter doing a live broadcast, but you can clearly see she was NOT intoxicated, something neurologically happened to her and I don’t understand why she was not taken to the hospital. She is well known here in LA, she is a pretty top notch reporter, usually sticking to entertainment stories, sometimes crimes, depending on who they have available. She is very young, looks to be in her early 30s. Last night I was watching CBS 2 and Pat Harvey said that she will be back at work soon and when she is ready to tell everyone what happened it will be on her terms. Hope its nothing too serious but to me it looked like a stroke or a precursor to one


25 posted on 02/15/2011 1:44:33 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: I still care

If she were having a stoke or a paramedic thought she might be having a stroke they would have brought her to the hospital.

If she were drunk and or high, the paramedics would have told here to get someone to drive her home so that she could sleep it off.

And if she were a 65 year old reporter at the Southern Baptist Convention, I would have a different view. However, this is a 28 year old woman at the Grammys in Hollywood.


26 posted on 02/15/2011 1:45:34 PM PST by trumandogz
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Either that was a seizure or someone slipped something into her Evian.


27 posted on 02/15/2011 1:49:02 PM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: Sarah Barracuda

Probability is that it was a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack). Mimics a stroke, but there is no blood clot. They can go from a mild tingling in the face, an inability to talk (as in this case) to what appears to be a full-blown stroke. Recovery time can range significantly.

I know, because I deal with these weekly. An occasional TIA is a warning sign. But, like I deal with, these are effectively on-going shorts that can severely affect your ability to work, to walk, or do other normal activities. The only good side is they won’t kill you like a stroke will.


28 posted on 02/15/2011 1:49:16 PM PST by rstrahan
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
This was discussed yesterday here: Serene Branson 'hospitalised after Grammy's speech problems'(May have suffered stroke on air-Video)

On that thread I posted the following:

She needs to be seen by a Neurologist ASAP. It could be something as simple as a PFO or much worse. This was her warning and someone needs to counsel her immediately to seek help. The aphasia and facial muscle weakness was a neurological event.

My wife is a Neurologist and she watched the video (added that it would be helpful if every event like this was caught on video for medical review). She stated she should be in an ER immediately for a complete work up. Very sad and worse were the idiots making jokes about it. For everyones reference between 10 to 20 percent of the US population has some form of PFO an atrial septic defect.
29 posted on 02/15/2011 1:49:34 PM PST by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media. There are Wars and Rumors of War.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

My Mother had one of these.
I went to get her for lunch and she was doing the same thing. Scared the you know what out of me.
I took her to the er and after tests the Docs said she had an eschemic stroke.

By the time we left she was speaking just fine.
Very scarey. She didn’t realize what had happened either.


30 posted on 02/15/2011 1:52:30 PM PST by Marty62 (Marty 60)
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To: Revolting cat!
is that anyone noticed - after all, what these talking heads spout at all times is gibberish anyway. True!
31 posted on 02/15/2011 1:54:44 PM PST by ColdOne
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To: rstrahan

What’s weird is that the rest of her body seem fine. No strange movement, but of course we did not see what happened after the camera stopped rolling. She apparently went to see the doctor the next day but why was she not hospitalized, if something like that happened to me I would rush to the emergency room. I hope she doesn’t have a brain tumor, or I was even thinking about ALS last night. Reading those comments on yahoo are really a shame, to see people laughing at what happened to her, mocking her, its disgusting. Just shows what has happened to our society


32 posted on 02/15/2011 1:55:06 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: trumandogz
A week or so at Betty Ford should do the trick.

That was "fluent aphasia" most often caused by a TIA. This was a serious neurological event.

You really need to give it a rest on the drinking and drugs BS. You should spend some time learning the warning signs for stroke so you can be helpful rather than a hindrance.
33 posted on 02/15/2011 1:56:54 PM PST by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media. There are Wars and Rumors of War.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Happened to a friend of mine whose husband took her to the ER. Diagnosed a mini-stroke - transcient ischemic attack. Hope I spelled that right. She’s on a baby aspirin a day but another person might be put on a different dosage. Always best to get these checked out.


34 posted on 02/15/2011 1:57:01 PM PST by GoldwaterChick
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Quite an informative thread. You never know what you’re gonna learn here.


35 posted on 02/15/2011 2:00:13 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: PA Engineer

I had lunch with my father (a retired neurosurgeon) and he said that usually the symtoms from a TIA will take a day or so to clear up, however a partial seizure may have been what the reporter suffered.

In adults (over 25) the seizure is triggered by a tumor in 2 of 3 cases, and unfortunately, the tumor can be a glioma (very bad).

She needs to get a complete workup by a neurologist.

Prayers for her and hope for simple and benign cause.


36 posted on 02/15/2011 2:04:43 PM PST by PDGearhead (Obama's lack of citizenship)
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To: Sarah Barracuda
What’s weird is that the rest of her body seem fine. No strange movement, but of course we did not see what happened after the camera stopped rolling

This was because the Broca's area of the brain was temporarily injured. This may have been a heart related issue that precipitated an ischemic event.

Her symptoms were classic for a neurological emergency. Sadly it appears it was not treated as such.
37 posted on 02/15/2011 2:05:12 PM PST by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media. There are Wars and Rumors of War.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Hope it isn’t a tumor. Maybe a seizure of some type?


38 posted on 02/15/2011 2:10:25 PM PST by dforest
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I hope she gets an MRA (deep brain MRI). A couple of years ago my husband had a stroke. *I* knew it was a stroke but the ER docs did CT scan and MRI that showed no stroke. Docs were insisting he go home. However, he couldn’t stand. So they admitted him to the “We Don’t Have A Clue” unit overnight. The next day they did the MRA and, lo and behold, he’d had a stroke!

This gal should nto trust to the standard ER protocol. *Something* happened. It may have no permanent effect, like my husband’s stroke, but she really has to know what it was.


39 posted on 02/15/2011 2:11:00 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I just watched the video, and that is the exact same
thing that happened to me, the exact same way that I talked. The doctor thought I had
had a stroke, but it turned out that I had an aneurysm that hadn’t ruptured yet, but was seeping blood into the brain.

I hope they check for that!


40 posted on 02/15/2011 2:14:40 PM PST by IamHD
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