CNN host John Berman on Monday recounted his 25-mile run during the Boston Marathon last week, saying that after he was hospitalized for heatstroke, he “wasn’t sure” if he would survive.
Berman was hospitalized last Monday. On Instagram, the CNN anchor said “apparently I had 25 GREAT miles” before he “took a detour to the medical tent” and then the hospital.
“I don’t exactly remember what happened,” he wrote last Tuesday, “but I am doing MUCH better now.”
During his CNN slot on Monday, Berman confirmed he doesn’t remember “the most important parts” of the incident, but explained he started feeling fatigued around the 24th mile.
“Not overwhelmed, but enough that I was doing the math in my head that I could go much, much more slowly and even walk some, and still finish the race around the time I wanted to,” he said. “I really didn’t have that much further to go.”
That was the last thing Berman recalled about the race.
“The next thing I remember is waking up in an emergency room with maybe twelve or fifteen people around me doing all kinds of things to me,” he added.
In the hospital, Berman remembers being “incredibly disoriented and confused.”
“Not being in control of my head was terrifying. I could not put many thoughts together, but I could put enough together to know I was messed up,” he said. “And I knew that my brain was crucial to what I do because clearly I am not going to get by with my athletic ability.”
Berman ended up spending three nights in the hospital before he was released. Doctors said he suffered from a heatstroke, which caused rhabdomyolysis, or a breakdown of muscle tissue.
The CNN anchor, who was placed on an IV until his blood levels had returned to normal, thanked all those who helped him and those who supported him during his hospitalization.
Berman undertook the Boston Marathon as part of “Team Beans” in order to support a charity fundraiser for the Infant Brain Tumor Program at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
His effort was not in vain, because his team still raised “a ton” of money for the cancer institute, Berman explained.
“Team Beans is what’s important here,” Berman added, “not me and my stupid missing mile.”