Fox News anchor Bret Baier reacted to the news of Charles Krauthammer's terminal cancer diagnosis by saying the conservative commentator's voice will be sorely missed.
The 68-year-old Krauthammer released a statement Friday in which he described his health issues, which rapidly declined in recent weeks. His cancer returned and he was given mere weeks to live.
Krauthammer appeared on Baier's "Special Report" program nightly until he stepped away last summer to deal with his health problems.
"It takes your breath away. We were ready to start making plans for him to be back on the panel. He had turned the corner," Baier said. "It had been a long battle through this series of surgeries, and I told him that I was ready to roll a satellite truck, and Fox was, to wherever he was to get him on the air as soon as we could."
Baier shared a story about when he took over Fox's nightly news program from Brit Hume.
"He said, 'I'm with you. I'm your first baseman. As much as you need me,'" Baier recalled Krauthammer as saying. "And I told the executives at Fox, I'd like to have Charles on five days in a week. They said, maybe four, and then they said sure, have him on five. Because the viewers loved him.
"Everything he said, he was like an op-ed every time he talked. That was organic. That was Charles. It was not staged. That's how he thought things through."
Krauthammer is no stranger to health issues. He was paralyzed from the neck down in a pool accident during his first year of medical school. With limited use of his hands, he was able to drive a specially made van — in which he traveled to Washington Nationals baseball games as often as he could.
Baier shared a funny story about being in that van, with Krauthammer behind the wheel, as they headed to a game.
"He did like to drive fast. He's got use of one hand and he's driving," Baier said. "It was really hot in the van and he said, 'Do you want the air conditioning up?' I said, 'just focus on what you gotta do. Just get us to the game on time.' He loved baseball, he loved being with people."
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