Traumatic brain injury survivors found hope by watching News 13's Frank Kracher on TV
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — It seems appropriate that News 13 anchor Frank Kracher ends his 42-year broadcasting career on Sunday. After all, March is Brain Injury Awareness Month.
"This is the month to retire. He's at the top of his game," said Angela Leigh Tucker, who suffered a brain injury in 2008 after a car crash in New York City.
In 2005, Kracher left WLOS after seven years to anchor and run the news department at a station in Syracuse, New York.
The following year, a frightening ordeal nearly took his life.
"I almost died from a traumatic brain injury," he explained to News 13 viewers in 2014. "An artery exploded inside my skull. Doctors never did figure out why I fainted, my head bouncing off the floor. I don't remember any of it."
As Frank recovered, he faced the possibility that he'd never work again. But he was motivated by the idea of a "new normal" and getting back to what he knew best -- local TV news.
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In the summer of 2010, News 13 welcomed him back to the mountains as the weekend anchor/reporter. That's when he became an inspiration to folks like Tucker.
"When I moved to this area and was learning how to live life with a traumatic brain injury, he was sort of the beacon of hope of what I could achieve in my recovery," she recalled.
"So for him to share his story and to be that open and vulnerable about it, he has done a remarkable job of making the 'invisible' visible," said Karen Keating of the Brain Injury Association of NC (BIANC). "And showing people what hope, resilience looks like."
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Over the years, Frank has emceed BIANC events and also appeared in PSA's promoting fundraisers for the nonprofit.
"I've just appreciated getting to know him as a friend," Keating said. "And also seeing him back on the air and hearing his story, and being able to share that. It's really been phenomenal."
"You can't see our memory loss, our cognitive challenges, organizational challenges," Tucker said. "So it's quite awesome that he's given a face to an invisible injury."
When Frank first returned, it was a slow but steady progression back to preinjury form. But eventually he was the same Frank on the air who viewers grew to know and love.
"Yeah I totally watched that transition too," says Tucker. "I would see what I would call the brain injury moments; the forgetfulness, the having to remember where you left off and where you pick up."
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She eventually became friends with Frank and that only amplified her appreciation for the newsman and role model.
"He agreed to go to lunch with me one day and it was really exciting, I was sitting with a celebrity," she says. "He's such a down-to-earth, real person. It's an honor to know him and to watch his recovery."
Frank anchors his final newscasts on Sunday, leaving the TV business on his own terms, something that seemed implausible 15 years ago.
For him, raising awareness of traumatic brain injuries goes far beyond just the month of March. He's told many important stories over the years, but telling his own might have made the biggest impact.
"I just thought it was appropriate for us to thank him for what he's done for us and the support he showed us over the years," Keating says.
Frank's last broadcast will air Sunday night at 11 p.m. Chime In with your well wishes to Frank here.
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