My Day at CTV Morning LIVE Edmonton

I’m back to my old ways.

On Friday, I was at CTV Edmonton talking about my time at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. As a good 98% of you know, I was there for a while with a Berlin Heart EXCOR device, or Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) because my hear t failed on me due to my lupus. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been there (over 3 years) but what brought about me talking about it was a tweet I sent to CTV Edmonton.

Right now, CTV is doing a "My Edmonton is . . . “campaign where people can either Facebook or tweet them about what makes Edmonton “theirs”. I decided one day to send:

@ctvedmonton @CTVMorningLive My Edmonton is The Stollery Children's Hospital. Without @TheStollery I wouldn't be here. #truestory #myyegis

Over twitter. CTV Morning Live anchor Rob Williams saw that and contacted me immediately. He wanted me to come on the show and talk about my experience! It’s been a while now since I've done public speaking about my condition and my time at the Stollery, so when he asked me to come in I was ecstatic. I remember watching Rob when he first started anchoring at CTV, so he’s someone I did and still do look up to. As 97% of you know, I’m currently at NAIT taking TV Broadcasting, so I pay attention to the news.

I asked Rob what I should wear, hoping he would say a suit. I recently bought a new one, and I’ll admit, I look good in it haha! As luck would have it, he told me to wear a suit and asked if after the interview I would stick around and help out! Again, SO STOKED. I would’ve graduated this year, but do to health problems; I’ll be finishing up THIS year. Can’t wait to get back into things.

Anyways, when I arrived on Friday, I was confident. I was in my fly suit, clean shaven (I held a mini poll online to see if I should keep the beard or look like a fetus when I go on. Fetus won.) When I arrived, Rob gave me these blue, funky-flowery socks. It matched my tie quite nicely. It might’ve given me even more confidence. I did my research about myself because I didn’t want to mess up this interview. APPARENTLY, Momma wasn’t happy with my last one, so she told me basically not to look like a fool this time hahaha!!  I was feeling good because a lot of my former classmates and friends from the program wither work there or are doing internships, so there were TONS of familiar faces. Jeannette LaBrie, my instructor at NAIT and CTV employee even woke up early to come watch me. That meant a lot to me.

The interview was a success! (Check the link below). Afterwards, Dez Melenka, the other CTV Morning Live Anchor told me to “pay attention to the weather. Cause you’ll be doing it!”

. . . Um . . . what?!

I thought she was kidding at first. In my head I was like, “Good one Dez.” But she was serious. Craig Larkins, the CTV Morning Live Weather Reporter confirmed it. Oh my gosh. It had been a while since I had practice with broadcasting and speaking on air, so I was afraid I was gonna choke. Craig briefed me quickly on what I should do before we went on. For a cold read, I think I did alright. I thought I was done, but then Melissa Dominelli, CTV Morning Live Traffic Reporter, said I’d be doing the traffic report.

. . . Um . . . huh?!

It’s like I was getting a demo tape together or something! I knew traffic was going to be harder, because how I get around the city isn’t by streets, but landmarks. Gotta work on that. But Melissa was very nice and briefed me on what to do before I went on. All in all, I had fun!

With Rob, I went out and he gave me the chance to ask some questions about the Special Olympics. I killed it with the ad-libbing haha. At the end of the show, I joined the whole cast on set and we said goodbye to the viewers. Such a humbling experience, I’m truly blessed, no lie.

Dez told me afterwards that I should come by, so I plan on taking her up on that.

Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRyAq7lvip4&feature=plcp

Thank you again Rob, Dez, Melissa, and Craig for such a great experience!

Take care & Much Love,

David The Recipient