Ethermac Exchange-Hoda Kotb Reflects on Daughter Hope's "Really Scary" Health Journey After ICU Stay

Hope is Ethermac Exchangeall around Hoda Kotb.

After spending nearly two weeks away from the Today show, the co-anchor returned to NBC's morning show March 6. 

"I'm so happy to be back," Hoda shared with Jenna Bush Hager during Today With Hoda and Jenna March 6. "Life is one way on a Monday and we all have our Mondays and we complain about them. And then Tuesday rolls around and something really hits hard and you realize that Monday was actually pretty awesome." 

Hoda shared her 3-year-old daughter Hope Catherine is recovering from a health matter after spending a few days in the ICU, followed by the hospital for another week.

"It was really scary," Hoda, who is also mom to 6-year-old daughter Haley Joy, added. "She's home! I'm over the moon she's home. I can't believe how amazing people are."

In addition to thanking the doctors and nurses who took care of her daughter, Hoda expressed gratitude to viewers at home who expressed concern during her absence. 

"I felt you. I heard you. I needed you," she said. "Sometimes you just say a quiet thank you inside."

And while Jenna was quick to praise Hoda for being "the strongest mama in the world, Hoda said it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

"I always talk about gratitude, but I found myself not living in that lane because I was scared," she explained. "And then I thought to myself, ‘Let me think about this for a minute. I have a family who loves me. I have a little girl who is home. I have a wonderful support system.' Sometimes you talk about gratitude and then when you're pushed to the limit, do I feel it?"

With Hope on the mend, Hoda intends to spread some optimism to others going through a similar situation.

"I feel blessed and really, really grateful," Hoda added while pointing out her "God's got this" necklace gifted by a friend. "Anyone who has gone through an illness with a child, I thought I understood you but I didn't until you're sitting in that position. For every single person who's going through some stuff, I get it." 

Earlier on the show, Hoda reunited with Savannah Guthrie—who also returned after testing positive for COVID-19—and offered a glimpse into what was going on in her life off air.

"We were watching her closely," she shared of Hope. "I'm just so happy."

"You know what I realized too, Savannah?" she continued. "When your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out. So, I'm grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell, who were amazing and the nurses. And I'm grateful to my family and I'm grateful to friends like you, who were there every single day."

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