BATON ROUGE – Amid tears, hugs, celebration and memories Wednesday evening, longtime news anchor Donna Britt bid farewell to the South Louisiana audience.

Britt’s retirement ends a near 38-year career at WAFB TV, the CBS affiliate in Baton Rouge, and ushers in a new path for Britt who is battling ALS.

“I’ll try to make every ALS or MDA fundraiser that I can,” Britt told her fans at the end of the station’s 6 p.m. broadcast Wednesday – her last.

As the newscast ended, those who Britt has touched throughout her career joined her in the studio for an emotional salute.

Ahead of her final show, Britt spoke with WBRZ anchor and friend Sylvia Weatherspoon. The pair shared touching stories and discussed Britt’s legacy in the community – one of her favorites, the ten years she’s spent as the “library elf” at Progress Elementary. Perhaps most special to Britt is the time she’s spent with the students there.

Click HERE to watch WBRZ live or return to this story later for the video interview. 

Donna Britt’s unfathomable retirement comes a year after she shocked the community with news of her diagnosis. Not long after, she stepped down from the late, 10 o’clock broadcast.

She vowed – and continues to do so – to fight and live her life.

“Just know that I am treating ALS as a part of living,” she said last year. “I won’t be dying every day. That’s not my way. You will survive longer if you meet each challenge, figure out how to cope, and keep going.”

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, there is no cure but lately has been the focus of new scientific understanding. Click HERE for more information from the ALS Association.

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