Today fans insist it’s a ‘miracle’ as Al Roker walks with a cane to make ‘early’ return to morning show after surgery

TODAY fans have insisted it’s a “miracle” as Al Roker walks with a cane during a surprise return to the morning show after undergoing a scary surgery.

The meteorologist has been away from The Today Show studio while he recovers from knee replacement surgery.

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At the conclusion of the morning show’s Wine Day segment, Today host Sheinelle Jones, 45, attempted to break for commercial only to be interrupted by the fan-favorite weather presenter.

Al, 68, cackled loudly as he waltzed onto The Today Show set, with the assistance of a cane, shocking his fellow co-hosts with the surprise visit.

Craig Melvin, 44, yelled: “Jesus Christ!” and took off across the studio toward the opposite side of the set as a started Sheinelle suddenly became lost for words.

Fellow meteorologist Dylan Dreyer, 41, happily screamed, “No!” as she threw her arms around the 68-year-old host.

A less frightened Craig announced: “He’s back early,” as he rushed over to welcome his friend and colleague while a still speechless Sheinelle embraced her Al.

During the unscripted live TV moment, Craig threw his arm around Al and happily greeted the anchor, stating: “What’s up brotha! Good to see you!”

A shocked Craig addressed how well Al appeared and how dapper he looked for the visit as he exclaimed: “Oh my god! You look great.”

Al donned a pink polo shirt, matching pink slacks, a navy-blue sport coat, and a straw fedora for the surprise.

Sheinelle managed to regain her composure as she finally sent to the show to commercial, stating: “We’ll be right back” and “What a reunion.”

The clip was reposed on the morning show’s Twitter account with the caption: “Could this day get any better?! Despite @AlRoker taking off to recover from knee surgery, he took some time to give @SheinelleJones, @DylanDreyerNBC and @CraigMelvin a little in-studio surprise.”

One fan tweeted in response: “I love the 4 of them together!”

Another person wrote: “It’s a “wine day” miracle!!”

A third commented: “How funny,” before adding, “I’m so glad @alroker is doing better and love his sense of humor.”

While a fourth Twitter user wrote: “O M G !!! Glad to see him !!”

RECOVERY UPDATE

Earlier this week, Al returned to the morning show with an update on how he’s feeling after his knee replacement surgery.

The Today Show anchors Sheinelle, Craig, and Dylan chatted with Al about what he had been up to.

When the anchors made contact with Al, they asked how he was doing to kick off the conversation.

“I am doing fine! It’s good to see all of you,” Al said as he chatted with the anchors from home.

Al continued: “I’m gonna be honest, I’ve had a number of body replacements. This one has been the toughest one yet, because they had to take out the old one, which had some complications, and then put in a new one.”

The beloved anchor then showed an X-ray of his knee on his phone to let everyone at the Today Show have a look.

“They really had to do a lot of work to get the old hardware out and the new hardware in, plus there’s a titanium cone in there for bone to grow around.”

Dylan asked Al if his physical therapy had him feeling “good”.

Al said that when his nerve block ended, he “started cooking” — but his doctor did not want him to do that.

“The thing is to stay off the knee and to ice and elevate,” Al said.

“I just started outpatient physical therapy,” he admitted.

He’s not quite completely recovered yet, but he’s well on his way.

AL’S BACK!

Meanwhile, Al resurfaced for the first time in new photos since his knee replacement surgery.

The Today host posed with his pregnant daughter, Courtney, and his son, Nick, among other people.

On Tuesday, Al posted photos to his Instagram.

“Last night, I put on real pants for the first time in 2 weeks since knee revision surgery to accept the #shareourstrength @nokidhungry Champion Award last night,” he captioned the post.

“And thanks to @shanedrummondphoto for the pics!!”

The first photo had him posing in front of an orange backdrop with the words “Citi” and “No Kid Hungry” printed on it.

In the second photo, Al posed with his award and was joined by his daughter, Courtney, her husband, and Al’s son, Nick.

The third and final picture featured all of them plus three other friends, who were at the awards ceremony.

Al’s colleagues and friends congratulated him on the honor.

Before the event, Al, Nick, Courtney, and her husband, Wes, posed outside Al’s New York City home.

Al had a cane but looked like he was not struggling to stand.

Al gave fans an update on his surgery the day after it happened.

He took a photo of the sunrise from his hospital room, pairing it with the song Lovely Day by Bill Withers.

And to let everyone know how he was doing, the host captioned his post: “Feeling grateful and #hopeful on this #firstday with my #newknee Who knew?”

Fans sent him well wishes in the comments.

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