(Photo L: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images; Photo R: Kaylee Hartung)
Front Row is expanding on “FGF” goodness every Friday as we put our own spin on the segment by highlighting the “good” being done by familiar faces from around ESPN who are helping to make others – and themselves! – feel good. This ongoing series showcases even more ways that ESPN is #OneTeam, signifying how we are all in this together.
One of the regular Friday highlights now ingrained in the noon ET SportsCenter is a segment called “Feel Good Friday.” It’s self-explanatory.
Front Row’s “Feel Good Friday” feature welcomes Kaylee Hartung, ABC News correspondent and former ESPN reporter.
From the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2017, Hartung was a staple on airwaves as a reporter for Longhorn Network, SEC Network and other ESPN platforms. She left ESPN for a role with CNN in Atlanta but returned to The Walt Disney Company family last summer when she became a New York-based (now Los Angeles-based) correspondent for ABC News.
Hartung goes where news happens. But when she traveled to Seattle this past winter just as the COVID-19 pandemic started to take root in America, she found herself part of the story. In March 2020, she announced she had contracted the coronavirus, as she discussed with ABC News colleague – and another ESPN alum – Robin Roberts (watch video below):
.@ABC News correspondent @KayleeHartung reports on her #coronavirus diagnosis: "I knew something was wrong as soon as I woke up…social distancing needs to be taken seriously." https://t.co/xJ1gXbFgEg pic.twitter.com/plOOTD4wS2
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 18, 2020
Weeks after recovering, Hartung began donating her plasma to help treat struggling COVID-19 patients. In May, she met a patient whose life her donation helped save (see video below).
Recently, she donated plasma for the fifth time to the American Red Cross since her recovery. In the video below that’s exclusive to Front Row, Hartung explains her motivation.
Joe Faraoni, Shelby L. Lacy and Kaylee Hartung produced the video
