Hoda Kotb has shared new terrifying details about her daughter Hope’s health crisis last year.
As per reports, Hoda’s 4-year-old daughter was in intensive care for several days in early 2023, before ultimately remaining in hospital for over a week. Hope’s family did not disclose the diagnosis due to the girl’s tender age, though Hoda did say that the condition required constant monitoring by medical professionals in the beginning.
Earlier this week the Today co-host reflected on last year’s scary ordeal, revealing that she and the rest of her family have been “trying to make everything normal” as they start a long-term plan to maintain Hope’s health.
“We had a scary stretch,” Kotb explained, as per the Huffington Post.
“Any parent who’s been through a scary thing with their child understands. It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick. You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents. And it’s a position I’ve never found myself in.”
Back in February, 2023 Kotb took two weeks off of Today to help tend to her daughter. The journalist, also a mom to 7-year-old Haley, said she has taken steps to ensure her own concerns don’t overwhelm Hope.
“I’m not going to put my worry on her. It’s too much for a kid to carry,” Hoda told People.
“Even just always saying, ‘How are you feeling? You feeling good today, honey?’ is saying, ‘I’m worried,’ because you’re not saying that about your other child. I’ll be discussing how it’s going with the nanny, the nurse, whoever, and if she’s there, she’s like, ‘Am I okay?’ I’m trying so hard to let her be a kid and not have all of the grown-up worries.”
Hoda has previously spoken from the heart about her journey to motherhood, revealing her belief that she had left it too late before deciding to adopt.
The 58-year-old said last year: “I remember never saying out loud that I wanted kids, never, because it was too late,” adding, “For girls that it’s too late for, you don’t say it because if you say it, you’re expressing something that you’re never going to get.”
Eventually, she decided to make the brave leap and contact an adoption agency to get the ball rolling for her to become a mother.
“I filled out all the paperwork and did all the stuff that you do, and they’re like, ‘Okay, maybe a year, maybe six months, maybe five years, bye,’” she said.
She became emotional when recounting the moment she found out she would be a mother. “I was sitting there, and I was doing some phone call with some nutritionist about something and babbling on and on. My phone beeped, and I looked at it, and it said Ashley, and Ashley was the lady from my adoption agency, and she said, ‘If I ever text you, you need to call me back immediately,” she recalled.
“I saw her name, I hung up the phone, I took a yellow pad out, and I wrote, ’11:55. This is the moment everything changes,’ I knew it,” she continued. “And I took a deep breath and dialed the number, and I said, ‘Ashley?’ and she said two words to me. She said, ‘She’s here.’”
We hope Hope Kotb is healthy and well, and our thoughts are with their family.
