Katie Couric published a Substack post Sunday titled "The Day I'll Never Remember" detailing a health scare from June 27, the day she lost several hours of memory while attending the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado and was subsequently diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a rare but temporary condition that suddenly strips people of the ability to form new memories.
Couric, 69, remembered her morning, farmers market, iced coffee, peaches, a straw hat she did not need.
She remembered arriving at the Aspen Institute. She remembered looking forward to lunch at the hot dog stand.
"That's the last thing I remember," she wrote.
From approximately noon until 7 PM that Saturday, everything is gone. She moderated two panels during those hours.
Her husband John Molner, who contributed sections of the Substack post himself, says she was, by all appearances, completely fine. "The audience enjoyed it, and I noticed nothing unusual in the conversation or Katie's role. Frankly, she was great as always."
It was only after her final panel, when an intern found her sitting on a bench looking unwell, that anyone realized something was wrong.
At Aspen Valley Hospital, doctors evaluated her for a stroke. She could not name the month, the year or the president.
She thought it was 2024. She thought Joe Biden was president. An MRI showed no stroke.
The diagnosis was transient global amnesia, a sudden, temporary loss of the ability to form new memories in which the person remains awake, alert and functional.
The cause is unknown. The memories she lost are gone permanently. The condition has no link to Alzheimer's or dementia and does not increase risk of either.
"While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious," Couric wrote. "Ultimately, I'm relieved, even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me."