Carson Daly has been a household name for nearly two decades. Known widely for his hosting of MTV’s Total Request Live in the late ’90s, Daly has found a new home on NBC. He hosts the hit talent competition The Voice, and wakes America up every morning with his gig as co-host of the Today Show.
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Anyone who’s followed Daly on his hosting journey, likely knows the bond and relationship the 44-year-old shares with his mother, Pattie Daly Caruso.
In her son’s time on the Today Show, Pattie, who had a 25-year career hosting Valley Views, made a number of appearances; leaving quite the impression on Daly’s audiences as one loving and caring mama, who was beyond proud of her son.
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On September 17, 2017, Pattie died suddenly of a heart attack at her home in Palm Desert, California.
“Nobody likes that phone to ring in the middle of the night to get that call,” Daly said to his Today Show co-hosts on his first day back from leave.
A man of strong faith, Daly has never been one to shy away from the role that God plays in his life. In healing from the sudden loss of his mother, he told his Today Show co-hosts that his faith is what’s getting him through.
“I have great faith, great family, incredible friends,” Daly says, “I really could not have gotten past this without my faith in God, my family and my friends, and that’s you guys,” he says to his co-hosts.
“You guys gave my mom the greatest gift ever by employing me on the Today Show because she could watch me every single morning in her kitchen and I know that she did,” he said. “And I know there’s no place where she’d rather have me be than right back here.”
As Daly and his sister have begun going through their mother’s things, he affectionately calls her a “kleptomaniac,” because she would steal the smallest mementos from the Today Show set, or anywhere her kids were doing something, as a way to hold tight to life experiences.
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“She died at 73, but she lived life passionately, twice as much, so she really died at 146,” Daly jokes.
But among Pattie’s overwhelming collection of things, Daly shared perhaps the most incredible discovery of all.
Writing on Instagram how much his mother loved life that “she literally held onto it,” he posted a photo of a never-before-seen note that was written to Daly and his sister.
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Pattie had written it in the midst of her battle with breast cancer in 1998:
“Take good care of yourselves and each other. I’m so proud of you! Each of you have brought me so much joy! Walk closely with God, and be faithful to His word. Teach my grandchildren as you have been taught. Live each day and celebrate life — it is God’s greatest gift! You can feel my love even now — know I am with you always,
Your Mommy”
Daly and his sister were unaware that Pattie thought she may not survive the breast cancer back in the day. But her goodbye letter to her kids seems just as fitting now as it did back then.
Even though she’s gone, Pattie is still providing the love and support she knew her children would need in her passing, instructing them to look to the Father, raise their children up in the way they shall go (Proverbs 22:6), and reminding them to celebrate God’s gifts in every circumstance.
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It seems Carson Daly has some big shoes to fill in following in his mother’s footsteps. But with God in his heart, and his mother’s love all around him, there’s no doubt, he’s living up to the man he was created to be.
