A longtime San Francisco newsman has spoken out about his weekslong absence from the air — revealing a tragic family emergency kept him from the anchor chair.
KRON4 Morning News anchor James Fletcher broke his silence Thursday to announce that his son, Collin, had been paralyzed from the waist down after being hospitalized with a “sudden, unexplained neurological crisis” earlier this month.
Fletcher said the family doesn’t know how the 23-year-old became paralyzed, and doctors are still “working urgently to identify the cause.”
The family is anxious that each passing day will make the unknown condition irreversible.
“Every day that passes without answers is a day the window for recovery narrows,” James wrote in an online post. “We are in a race we did not choose, against a clock we cannot stop, fighting for our son’s ability to walk again. And we are doing it while standing at the edge of financial collapse.”
Fletcher said his son has battled “Crohn’s disease, seizures, and a string of complex conditions” for years, leaving the family with heavy with debt.
“Each crisis left behind bills,” Fletcher wrote. “We managed them the way most families do: payment plans, credit cards, loans. We did what we had to do. But years of doing what we had to do have left us with a crushing load of medical debt — and almost no margin left.”
The family launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical expenses, with nearly $10,000 raised of the $55,000 goal as of Friday morning. The family said the fund will be used for “past medical debt, newly incurred medical bills,” and “specialized care and equipment he needs to live without the use of his legs.”
KRON4 wished one of its top anchors and his family well.
“The KRON4 family is standing with James, Collin, and the Fletcher family and is wishing Collin strength and a full recovery,” the network wrote.
Fletcher has worked for the station since 2002.