{"id":14735,"date":"2017-06-29T10:30:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T15:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=14735"},"modified":"2017-06-29T10:35:30","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T15:35:30","slug":"fight-says-ailing-anchorman-rob-stafford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/06\/29\/fight-says-ailing-anchorman-rob-stafford\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fight on,\u2019 ailing anchorman Rob Stafford tells friends"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Rob Stafford<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran Chicago news anchor Rob Stafford, who\u2019s been on leave<\/a> from WMAQ-Channel 5<\/a> since March while battling a rare blood disease, said he hopes to return to the NBC-owned station at the end of August.<\/p>\n

In a message posted on his Facebook page <\/a>Thursday, Stafford thanked well-wishers for their \u201csupport and prayers\u201d during his ordeal. \u201cMy friends at NBC have had my back every step of the way,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Accompanying the message was a selfie of a bearded Stafford standing outside Rush University Medical Center on the Near West Side, where he said he will begin followup chemotherapy Friday.<\/p>\n

Stafford, 58, spent several weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he underwent a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy for amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder that affected his kidneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making progress but need more treatment,\u201d he wrote Thursday.<\/p>\n

A New Hampshire native and graduate of Macalaster College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Stafford began his career in Duluth, Minnesota, and later worked for stations in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Orlando, Florida, before joining CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 in 1992. He was hired as a Chicago-based correspondent for the NBC News magazine \u201cDateline\u201d in 1996.<\/p>\n

Since 2007 Stafford has been an anchor and reporter for NBC 5. He was promoted to main co-anchor with Allison Rosati in 2009. He also serves on the station\u2019s investigative reporting team.<\/p>\n

During Stafford\u2019s absence, weekend news anchor Dick Johnson has been filling in alongside Rosati on the station\u2019s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Stafford\u2019s Facebook post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good morning friends. My test results are in. We are making progress but need more treatment. I will undergo follow-up chemo through Rush in Chicago . . . \u00a0a milder form that should allow me to get back to work at the end of August.<\/em><\/p>\n

My wife Lisa and I can't thank you enough for your support and prayers. My friends at NBC have had my back every step of the way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dick Johnson is the hardest working man in TV. Thanks for covering for me DJ!<\/em><\/p>\n

First treatment tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fight on.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran Chicago news anchor Rob Stafford, who\u2019s been on leave from WMAQ-Channel 5 since March while battling a rare blood disease, said he hopes to return to the NBC-owned station at the end of August. In a message posted on his Facebook page Thursday, Stafford thanked well-wishers for their \u201csupport and prayers\u201d during his ordeal.... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14735"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14741,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14735\/revisions\/14741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}