Why has KSDK’s Anne Allred been off the air?

Q: What has happened to Anne Allred, the pretty blond anchor at KSDK-TV Channel 5? She’s been gone on maternity leave for three months now. Did she decide to leave the station?

A: She says she can’t wait to return to the KSDK news set again, but right now she needs all the prayers you can offer following her family’s blessed event on May 25.

The good news: Her seriously premature daughter, Nora, continues to gain weight and strength in the neonatal intensive care unit of a local hospital. The bad news: In mid-July, Anne suddenly suffered acute kidney failure resulting from a medical emergency that had occurred during her pregnancy. In her latest Facebook post, she says she is undergoing therapy to boost her renal function, but her return to the station may be weeks or months away even as her daughter faces considerable time yet in the NICU.

All was smiles and high-fives last Feb. 23 when Anne and her husband, Drew Lammert, a lawyer with the St. Louis firm of McCarthy, Leonard and Kaemmerer, announced that Anne was pregnant with her first child following their May 31, 2014, marriage. They even posted an ultrasound photo of what looks to be their developing child waving her arm in the womb.

Ironically, to celebrate Mother’s Day, Anne promoted a story that focused on Drs. Brad and Barbara Warner, a husband-and-wife duo who treat premature babies at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Brad is surgeon-in-chief and regularly performs difficult operations on these tiny newborns; his wife is a neonatologist.

“One in 10 babies is born premature,” Allred reminded her viewers.

Little did she know that a week later, she would be hospitalized facing delivery of her own baby months early because of a sudden onset of preeclampsia. This is a disorder that can occur late in pregnancy which can cause high blood pressure and a breakdown of red blood cells along with liver and kidney problems. It is not only a life-and-death emergency for the fetus but also the mother — an estimated 29,000 women died of the condition worldwide in 2013.

Doctors tried to stall Anne’s delivery as long as they could, but finally gave up for the safety of both patients.

“You haven’t seen me in a while because after 11 days in the hospital, I underwent an emergency c-section,” Allred posted on May 25. “My child was delivered three months premature. She is a beautiful baby girl and she is a fighter!!! I know there are many mothers out there with great stories of strength, preemies fighting the odds, etc., and I would love to read some as I recover and watch over my beautiful daughter who will be hospitalized for many months. Prayers are appreciated more than I could ever express in words!”

For the next two months, Anne posted encouraging updates about her baby girl. Nora hit 2 pounds on May 29 and, when she reached 3 pounds on June 16, Anne wrote, “I get to snuggle her in the hospital everyday, and she is sucking on a binky now.”

Just before July 4, Nora hit another milestone as she neared 4 pounds.

“Nora is breathing on her own!” Anne posted. “No more oxygen!! And I just discovered she has a dimple on her right cheek.”

While Nora continued to improve, Anne faced a sudden medical crisis in mid-July, one she continues to battle.

“(Nora) is now 4 pounds, 13 ounces!,” she wrote on July 20. “I’m not doing as well. About 10 days ago, I suffered acute kidney failure and was hospitalized. Doctors believe it’s atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome brought on by my preeclampsia during pregnancy.

“I am home now and undergoing infusion treatments. The hope is that the infusions will restore my kidneys. All of you have been so encouraging and gracious to me through all of this. I can’t thank you enough. I miss everyone at work and can’t wait to get back later this year. But most of all, I am looking forward to bringing my baby home from the NICU in a few weeks.”

For updates and the latest pictures of Nora, search for Anne Allred KSDK on Facebook.

Q: What has happened to anchor Alissa Reitmeyer on KMOV-TV? She seemed to be there one day and gone the next.

A: She has not only left the station but the area as well.

You may remember when Sharon Reed left for Atlanta in May 2015 to open up one of the evening anchor slots. Jasmine Huda was hoping (as was I) that she would be named Reed’s replacement, but the job went to Reitmeyer. Looking to advance, Huda soon left for KTVI FOX2, where she anchors the station’s new 11 p.m. news (which is too late for us Answer Men needing our beauty sleep).

Just two months after she was named Reed’s permanent replacement, Reitmeyer went on maternity leave, giving birth to a nearly 9-pound son, Benjamin, just before Christmas.

“Benjamin is fast asleep in my arms right now and I am looking at him feeling so blessed to have welcomed a beautiful, healthy boy into the world,” she posted on her Facebook page on Christmas Day. “We have slept very little, snuggled him a lot and soaked up every single minute so far.”

In early June, after just eight months on the job, the Villa Duchesne grad announced she would be leaving at the end of the month for Birmingham, Ala. Her husband had been given an “incredible” opportunity to pursue a fellowship at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center there.

“It’s certainly bittersweet,” she wrote just before she left. “I am so proud of my husband for this amazing opportunity to advance his career and can’t wait to spend more time with Benjamin, but I have really, truly loved being a member of the News 4 team. St. Louis will always be home. I grew up here, I went to high school here, got married here, got my dream job, and started my family here. I will always be proud to say I’m from the Lou and will be back often.”

Today’s trivia

How long ago do scientists think the first case of cancer occurred in humans?

Answer to Sunday’s trivia: In the summer of 1883, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) was writing “Huckleberry Finn” but at the same time he was trying to teach his two older daughters to remember all the English kings and queens and the years they ruled. To do so, he invented a game by laying out an 817-foot course in his yard (one foot for each year of English history) and putting stakes in the ground for each monarch’s reign. When his girls reportedly learned their lesson in two days, Twain started inventing “Memory Builder: A Game for Acquiring and Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates,” which he patented in 1889. Unfortunately, one reviewer said the game was a cross between an income tax form and a logarithmic table, and it died a quick death.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Why has KSDK’s Anne Allred been off the air?."