not as an anchor, but as an intern and a cameraman who rose to the number two spot in the network satellite department before his talents in front of the camera were discovered a decade later and he began anchoring for cnn. he was on set for the network's coverage of many big news stories including the oklahoma city bombings and the 911 attacks on the world trade center. >> you are looking at this picture, it is the twin towers of the world trade center. >> in 2003 he moved on to local television as lead anchor for wjla in washington, d.c. all the time he was the picture of health, but recently harris had a real and terrifying brush with death. >> i woke up, like i normally do. got out of bed. >> but august 1st turned out to be anything but normal. >> had this incredible, sudden pain in my stomach. it felt like a horse had kicked me and it literally knocked me to the floor. >> but still he thought it was possibly just indigestion. >> but then -- >> i sat there on the floor in