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With a wave of her bandaged left hand, and boosted by well wishes from Dr. Phil, Chris Evert and even a young woman she once babysat, Hannah Storm returned to a most comfortable setting — talking in front of a TV camera.

The ESPN anchor hosted the Rose Parade telecast Tuesday in her first on-air appearance since sustaining first- and second-degree burns to her face, hands, chest and neck in a propane gas grill accident Dec. 11.

“I was just so happy to be there, so grateful,” she said by phone from Pasadena, Calif. “It took a lot out of me, but it went great.”

Storm lost roughly half her hair in the accident outside her home in Connecticut. She wore extensions for the two-hour show on ABC. Storm’s eyebrows and eyelashes also were burned off. When a makeup artist brushed on her first eyebrow, “I wanted to kiss her, it looked so good,” she said.

This was the fifth time Storm served as TV host for the Rose Parade. She said working alongside her former “SportsCenter” co-anchor, “Good Morning America” host Josh Elliott, eased her way.

She said it was to her benefit that she could ad-lib through the show. She’s left-handed, and the burns and an infection make it hard to turn pages on a script or take notes.

“I could be myself today, just talking and reacting to what I saw,” she said. “It was a very familiar place.”

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Source – BlackAmericaWeb