Katie Couric Suffered a Stroke Scare Before Being Diagnosed With Temporary Amnesia

Katie Couric revealed this week that she experienced an episode of Transient Global Amnesia in June, which first prompted the prolific journalist’s family to believe she was having a stroke.

“There was nothing all that unusual about that Saturday morning. John went to work out, so I walked into town from his parents’ condo in Aspen to go to the weekly farmer’s market and get some iced coffee,” Couric wrote in a Substack post, titled “A Day I’ll Never Remember,” published July 6. “I bought some beautiful peaches and nectarines, a big bag of kettle corn and a cute straw hat I really didn’t need. I headed back, ate a bowl of cereal with one of the peaches, and got dressed for an afternoon at the Aspen Ideas Festival. I decided to wear a white linen suit, a navy and white knit sleeveless shirt, and my new hat. John drove with me to the campus of the Aspen Institute and was excited to go to the hot dog stand for lunch. (They’re really good hot dogs!) That’s the last thing I remember.”

From here, Couric’s husband, John Molner, takes over the post, writing his account of taking Couric to the hospital after her symptoms became apparent following her participation on two panels at the Aspen Ideas Festival, of which, Couric says she remembers “zero.”

When Couric couldn’t correctly answer a doctor’s questions about what year it was (“2024?”) or who the president was (“Joe Biden?”), Molner says the doctor told the nurses to “initiate stroke protocol.”

“She reintroduced herself to the nurses every time they came into the room,” Molner wrote. “I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day as she repeatedly asked me the same questions: ‘What was I doing before we got to the hospital?’ ‘Why am I at the hospital?’ Over the course of the next several hours, she asked me a version of those questions dozens of times. I’d answer, and a few minutes later (sometimes sooner), she’d ask the same question! Wash, rinse, repeat.”

Following a “clean” MRI and some tests that ruled out a stroke, Molner says he was told Couric had been diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia. He wrote all this down on a note beside her she could consult, concluding with: “You need to rest now but you will be 100% fine tomorrow! XOXO”

Couric wrote that after consultation with doctors and her own research, she’s still unsure what caused this episode of Transient Global Amnesia.

“So why did this happen to me? Was the altitude an issue? Was I dehydrated? Tired? Stressed? The literature doesn’t seem to indicate that these are contributing factors, but the cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself,” Couric wrote. “All I know is that those hours will be forever lost. Someone described it as my brain failing to hit the ‘record button.’ While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious. So ultimately, I’m relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”