A popular TV meteorologist announced she was diagnosed with a fatal disease, squashing rumors she was coming to work drunk.  Jeriann Ritter, 49, said she noticed a slight change in her speech last summer and dismissed it as a tooth problem.  But the dentist didn’t see a dental reason for the speech issues; instead, the dentist told her to see a medical doctor for a possible stroke. Ritter said that while a stroke was quickly ruled-out, it took months of testing to determine that she was suffering a debilitating neurodegenerative disease known as Bulbar Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS for short. Doctors told her there is no treatment and no cure.

Since then, her speech has been somewhat slurred on-air during her newscast weather reports for WHO-DT, WHO-13 in Des Moines, Iowa. Ritter said viewers  sent her messages asking if she was drunk on-air. Ritter said, “Those (messages) hit me hard. I was trying so hard to disguise it.”

ALS is a  sometimes faster-progressing form of motor neuron disease that begins by attacking nerve cells in the brainstem responsible for controlling muscles in the face, throat, and tongue. It causes early, severe difficulty with swallowing (dysphagia), speaking (dysarthria), chewing, and, eventually, breathing. Most people with ALS live between 2-5 years after symptoms develop.

In an interview that aired yesterday on WHO-13 News, Ritter discussed her diagnosis.

“If the doctors are right, I’m probably done telling you about the weather. But I still have a lot to say,” said the meteorologist who’s been with WHO 13 since 2004.

“I’m gonna do what I’ve always done for almost 50 years of my life. I’m gonna live and I’m gonna love. And that’s what I’m doing.”

Ritter used a weather analogy to describe her situation. “I didn’t forecast this storm hitting. It’s raining right now and I’m just trying to find the sunshine and focus on the little things, live in the moment,’ she said in the televised interview. “I’m so wealthy because I have so much love.”