Al Roker and his granddaughter.Photo:Al Roker/Instagram

Al Roker Credits His Granddaughter for Helping Him Get Through His Health Crisis

Al Roker/Instagram

Al Rokeris one grateful grandfather!

During a chat withEntertainment Tonight,theTodayShow personality, 69, credited his granddaughter,Sky Clara Laga, as someone who helped him get throughhis recent health issues.

“I’m doing great, doing great. I tell you, the thing that’s kept me going is I’ve had a new granddaughter,” he said.

Roker told the outlet that the best part of being a grandfather was that “you could love up on ‘em, and then you give them back.”

“If I had known they were this much fun, I would’ve had them first. It’s the best,” he added.

The weather anchor’s daughterCourtney Roker, and her husband,Wesley Laga,welcomed Sky on July 3. Shortly after her arrival, Rokertold hisTodayco-hoststhatbecoming a grandfather was “magical.”

Al Roker and his daughter Courtney.Al Roker/Instagram

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“The thing is, everyone tells you it’s going to be ‘this thing’ and you don’t know; it’s like when they tell you about having your first child. And then to hold this little girl, knowing almost 35 years ago I held her mom? And here she is, 5 lbs., 15 oz. 19 inches long and she’s just perfect,” he said.

In November 2022, Roker was treated forblood clots in his legs and lungs. His hospitalization caused him tospend weeks off the airandmiss his first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Paradein 27 years. Later in May, he underwentknee replacement surgeryand detailed the complexity of the procedure during avirtual appearance onToday.

“This one is a little more complicated because it’s what they call a revision; it was a replacement of a replacement, so they had to take stuff out, put stuff in, so it was a bit of a bear,” he said. “So we’ve just been kind of hanging out. Chilling out, not doing anything — which I know, a lot of people find hard to believe, but in fact, that is the case.”

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Roker then made an unexpected appearance on the morning talk show where he said he was “doing fine” andcalled the procedure “the toughest one yet.”

source: people.com