ABC News’ Sam Champion returned to “Good Morning America” on Wednesday after undergoing an emergency heart procedure.
The weather anchor updated viewers on his health after undergoing a cardiac catheterization, a medical procedure used to diagnose and treat heart conditions, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
“I’m sitting here, I feel fine … but I did have an emergency procedure,” he said, adding that he wanted to share his story to raise awareness about heart health and how others can start a conversation with their own doctors.
ABC News – PHOTO: Sam Champion on “Good Morning America,” March 25, 2026.
Champion, 64, said he initially went to his doctor after experiencing shortness of breath and underwent multiple tests to diagnose his condition.
“When I was tested over and over again, everything looked fine,” he said, noting that he continued to experience persistent shortness of breath.
Champion said his doctor decided to have him undergo a nuclear stress test, which uses imaging to see how well blood flows into the heart muscle, according to MedlinePlus, an online resource from the National Library of Medicine.
“I didn’t know [shortness of breath] could mean a heart attack until I had a nuclear stress test to see what was going on inside my heart, to see how my heart was moving and holding blood,” he explained.
Champion said following the nuclear stress test, doctors placed two stents in his heart during a cardiac catheterization procedure, adding that he is now feeling fine.
He did not share details of his exact diagnosis.
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“It was … one hour later, I felt fine, immediately,” Champion said of the cardiac catheterization procedure, later adding of his current status, “I feel so good.”
Champion shared a photo of himself to Instagram on Sunday, showing him sitting in a hospital bed. In the caption, he thanked the doctors and nurses at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City who cared for him.
“Thanks to these procedures[,] I am well and expected to make a full recovery,” he wrote.
What to know about testing for heart health
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula, a board-certified cardiologist who did not treat Champion, said nuclear stress tests are one of the many tests doctors use to determine the health of a person’s heart.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of heart disease may include everything from chest pain and discomfort to fatigue, swelling, shortness of breath and dizziness.
Narula said for patients who are experiencing specific symptoms such as chest pain, pressure, tightness, squeezing, burning or shortness of breath, the tests may be more advanced.
More advanced tests may also include a nuclear stress test, which is what Champion said he underwent.
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“A nuclear stress test means you walk on a treadmill, [and] sometimes we give people medicine to simulate stress,” said Narula. “Then, we give a radioactive tracer and that tracer gets distributed throughout the heart muscle.”
“If [the tracer] doesn’t get to one area the same that it gets to the other areas of the heart, we presume there might be a blockage in the artery supplying that area, and that’s when we would send someone for a more advanced test,” Narula explained.
Narula said people should discuss any concerning symptoms they may have with their doctors.
“If you go see a doctor and you’re telling them, ‘I’m continuing to have shortness of breath. I’m fatigued. I am dizzy or lightheaded. I’m having chest discomfort,’ that would be the time to say, or your doctor should say, ‘We need to do some testing,'” Narula said.
“If the initial test is negative and you have persistent symptoms, then we very often will send people for more advanced tests, because the tests aren’t perfect,” she added.
Narula said the cardiac catheterization is the “ultimate procedure” that can “definitively say if there is a significant blockage or not.”
With a cardiac catheterization, Narula said the procedure typically has “very low” risks, and “people either go home later that day or the next day.”
“What’s amazing about the [cardiac catheterization] procedure is you don’t necessarily have to take a break. It is not, like, a surgery where you’re being cut open,” said Narula. “I will have patients who are at work the next day or two or three. We do tell people to kind of limit certain activities, especially if they’ve had the procedure in the groin, in terms of heavy lifting. But certainly, you are back up and at it.”
