After more than a month away from the anchor’s desk, Allison Rosati made an emotional return to NBC 5 Chicago on Tuesday.
Rosati had been dealing with an illness that kept her off-air for several weeks, but she was greeted back by her colleagues at NBC Tower on Tuesday, with raucous applause as she entered the newsroom:
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WATCH HERE“I’m an ugly crier,” she said after the tribute. “It was so beautiful to see everybody’s faces. I missed everyone.”
Rosati returned to the anchor’s chair for the 5 p.m. newscast, and shared a message to the station’s viewers about the support she received during her absence.
“If anybody knows anybody going through any kind of illness, reach out, give ‘em a shout, because it really does lift your spirits when you’re at home all by yourself,” she said.
In an update in the 6 p.m. newscast, Rosati revealed that she had been diagnosed with shingles, an illness that afflicts up to 1-in-3 Americans.
"Shingles is no joke. It sounds funny, but it’s not. It’s brutal, but it can have long-lasting impact," she said.
The CDC recommends that Americans age 50 and older get a shingles vaccine, something Allison says she wishes she had done.
"It’s been just a joy to hear from you that so many people are getting their shingles shot," she said.
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SIGN UP Shingles can lead to serious complications like long-term nerve pain and vision loss, according to the CDC. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk of getting the illness.
Rosati made an Instagram post as she made her way back to NBC:
Allison joined the NBC Chicago family as an anchor and reporter in 1990, and was promoted to co-anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast in 1997.
