NBC Washington anchor Leon Harris has announced that he "will be stepping away" from the show following a concerning incident with his health last week. On November 28, during the 6 p.m. segment, he appeared to be slurring his words, speaking incomprehensibly, and failing to finish the end of his sentences.
Yes, Harris is still married. Back in the day, he had enrolled at Ohio University with some assistance from a National Merit Scholarship. It was there that he met his now-wife, Dawn Lomax. The two have since welcomed two children, Darren and Lauren, and share a home in Maryland. Lomax works as a nurse practitioner at a local hospital.
Leon Harris' 2013 ailment
The statement from NBC4 Washington, as reported by Deadline, read:
“We have an update to share with you about our colleague, Leon Harris. Last week, Leon appeared unwell while anchoring News4 at 6. Leon will be stepping away from the anchor desk to focus on health issues. We here at NBC4 - and you at home - care deeply about Leon and wish him well.”
Following Harris' segment, not long after he was pulled from the air, weatherman Ryan Miller chimed in to calm viewers down. He reflected on all the calls and emails that came in and assured viewers that "our colleague, Leon Harris, is fine. The News4 Team appreciates your concern.”
Notably, this isn't Leon Harris' first brush with health issues. Back in 2013, he was diagnosed with a condition called necrotizing pancreatitis. It caused his organs to fail, forcing him to spend weeks in the ICU. In September of that year, he sat down for an interview with CNN to reveal that, at the time, the pain was unbearable for him.
"I woke up that Thursday morning prepared to go to the gym and then go to work and have a regular day,” he said. “But I had this incredible, sudden pain in my stomach that was something that I have never felt before in my life. It felt like a horse had kicked me. I’ve actually been run over by a truck – none of that compared to what I felt in my stomach at that time."
He went on:
"I’m going through pain unlike any pain I have ever felt in my life and it literally knocked me to the floor and you know, being a stupid guy, a regular guy, I did what most guys do. I said: You know let me just take some Pepto Bismol, let me pop a couple of Gas-X pills, that’ll take care of it, it’s just gas.”
However, per the outlet, his wife Dawn stumbled upon him on the floor and subsequently rushed him to the hospital. What he thought was a quick night at the hospital soon turned into something more dire. By 4 a.m. that day, he said:
"All of a sudden, the door opened, these guys came rushing in the room saying we’ve gotta to go to intensive care immediately … and I was sort of in a fog, not on any drugs at the time except for pain meds. I found out later it was because they said my kidneys were shutting down and my lungs were beginning to fill up with fluid. They called my wife and said you need to get here immediately because we need to intubate him – to put me on a ventilator and they needed her to sign off on it.”
He was then diagnosed with a life-threatening condition and noted that his doctors felt like his gut looked like “a bomb had gone off inside me.”
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Causal factors of pancreatitis include gallbladder disease and excessive alcohol consumption. In the past, Leon Harris has been vocal about his struggles with it. He was arrested for driving under the influence twice, once in 2013 and then in 2022. Per Variety, following his second arrest, he felt like he "made a terrible mistake. After drinking, I decided to get into my car and drive. This is the worst decision I could possibly have made.”
The news network and fans wish him a speedy recovery.
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