The Decline of an Icon

 On Thursday, April 25, 2019, radio and television host Larry King suffered what many believed to be a heart attack, but turned out to be an angina attack. King was on his way to the hospital for an angiogram, when he began suffering chest pains, thus sending him to the hospital in an ambulance and into the intensive care unit.
     Larry King was born on November 19, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. King began his career right after highschool when he became a journalist for the local newspaper. As he got older, he got a job as a reporter for CBS, and worked his way up the ranks of the broadcasting world. King’s rise to fame began in 1985, with his show, Larry King Live, on CNN. For over 25 years, King was a part of the CNN crew, and began a new line of shows, making his career the epitome of broadcasting.
     This is not King’s first bout with heart issues. Back in the 1980’s, King was diagnosed with heart disease, and needed to be monitored often. In the early morning of February 24, 1987, King knew something was wrong and went to the hospital where it was determined he was suffering from a heart attack. King was known to smoke two and a half packs of cigarettes a day for 33 years, but that all stopped when he had his heart attack. King had a quintuple bypass surgery done, where all five of the major blood vessels leading to the heart were diseased. He made a full recovery, and was back on the air a few months later.
     It has also been reported that King’s health has been in decline recently, with it being known that he has had breathing problems the last few months. His breathing issues were the reason for him to get an angiogram. 
     In September of 2017, King announced that he had beaten lung cancer, a condition of his that he kept private. King went in for a routine check up where he underwent a chest x-ray. The doctor said that “‘something looked funny’’’, and King underwent further tests. The doctors found the tumor, which was in the beginning stages, and removed the tumor. King stated that "The doctor said to me, ‘It was malignant but you were in the first stage. If it had stayed and we didn't find it, you would have had trouble in two or three years, but we got it and you were lucky.’” The surgery removed roughly 20% of Kings lung, and he is now cancer free.
     King is reported to make a full recovery and is expected to return to his shows within the coming days.

Reporter: Myles Witte