Conservative radio talk show icon Rush Limbaugh just signed off on an emotional last segment of his show which began in 1988. It is one of the most-listened-to programs in the United States and is a five-time winner of the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Award for “Excellence in Syndicated and Network Broadcasting.” Limbaugh used his final time on air to thank all of his listeners and to say how much he appreciates them.
Limbaugh first announced his lung cancer diagnosis in February but had shared with his listeners in October that the cancer was going in the wrong direction. He said he didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to continue his radio program while he continues to defy the odds in his Stage IV cancer battle.
The radio host thanked his wife Kathyrn, listeners, and other family members for their continued support throughout his career and health struggle which has put him in a place of utter gratitude.
“My point in all of this today is gratitude. My point in all of this is to say thanks and tell everybody involved how much I love you from the bottom of a sizable and growing and still-beating heart. I wasn’t expected to be alive today. I wasn’t expected to make it to October, and then to November, and then to December. And yet, here I am, and today, got some problems, but I’m feeling pretty good today,” Limbaugh said.
Limbaugh also reflected back to February when President Trump gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. First Lady Melania Trump presented him with the medal during the State of the Union Address. President Trump praised the radio host in recognition of all that he has done for the millions of people who he speaks with and inspires every day.
Limbaugh compared his experience to the day that Lou Gehrig’s record-breaking baseball career was cut short due to an ALS diagnosis. The baseball player told the sold-out Yankee Stadium, “Today I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” The radio host questioned how you can feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth after being diagnosed with a terminal disease.
“I’ve been able to receive and hear and process some of the most wonderful, nice things about me that I might not have ever heard had I not gotten sick. Again think, how many people who pass away never hear the eulogies, never hear the thank-yous? I’ve been very lucky, folks, I can’t tell you how many ways,” the radio host explained.
Rush Limbaugh is a member of the Radio Hall of Fame and National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He continues to fight as the voice of conservatism and patriotism in a time of division and hate. Rush Limbaugh is a true American hero.
