CNN anchor and chief national affairs analyst Kasie Hunt is reflecting on how her life has changed one year after brain surgery to remove what turned out to be a benign tumor.
On Tuesday’s “CNN Tonight” the host took a couple of minutes to look back on how getting her diagnosis and preparing for surgery impacted her outlook on life.
“Today marks one year since I had surgery to remove a brain tumor. I’m humbled to be able to say that I am completely healthy now and can physically live my life as though none of this ever happened,” Hunt began. “But I really can’t lead my life like it never did because I have just learned so much from what happened.”
Hunt said she is “grateful” to “understand the things that I was forced to grapple with because I had this tumor growing in my head.” That included potential end-of-life planning – “what life would look like for my then 2-year-old son, what that would look like without me there,” she said. It also made her think about what would happen if her husband was left a widower and if her parents lost their daughter.
“I was so blessed to learn that I was one of the lucky ones – the tumor was benign,” she continued. “But I was also extremely lucky to have through all of this, what truly matters. And in having to face down my own mortality to be able to truly understand what that meant at an age, when, I still have, thank God, all the time in the world to change how I live because the people that we love and the health of our bodies matter more than anything else ever can or will. And showing up for them and for ourselves day in and day out is absolutely what matters the most.”
As she concluded her remarks, Hunt offered gratitude.
“I am so grateful to God and to everyone in my life who carried me through this trial and brought me to this changed place,” she said. “And I’m grateful to all of you – so many of you sent messages of support to me and many of you have shared your own stories of trial. And I just want to say thank you for trusting me with that.”
Last year, Hunt underwent a four-hour surgery to remove the tumor, followed by six weeks of recovery. Her surgery occurred not long after she had started her new role at CNN after leaving MSNBC for the new opportunity.