It was during a routine morning in late April while delivering a routine on-air forecast that “Blizzard” Bill Spencer’s life unexpectedly changed.

A sudden searing pain in the back of his head, along with a jumbled focus and persistent stutter caused the WTVG-TV, Channel 13 veteran meteorologist to consider the possibility that he was dying on live TV.

During this heart-pounding health crises, Spencer told viewers he was losing his voice, and returned the newscast to the morning anchors, Sashem Brey and Jeff Smith.

Off camera, Spencer, sitting at the station’s weather center, put his head down on the desk and wondered what was happening to him now.

Three years ago, the popular TV personality nearly died from a serious bacterial infection likely exacerbated by possible Lyme disease that forced him off the air for more than three months.

But this episode was worse.

“What happened to me in April was the scariest damn thing in my life,” said Spencer, 62, who has been off the air on a 90-day medical leave since May 30. “I went into survival mode. I knew something’s wrong here; I was stammering and stuttering. I couldn’t carry a thought.”

Doctors initially opined that Spencer may have had a mini-stroke — “a warning sign, basically,” he said — before further tests revealed something else.

The top vertebra of his spine collapsed onto his nervous system, which is what caused the April incident, and the subsequent almost daily episodes of his losing focus and balance, stuttering, and experiencing sharp stabs of pain in the right side of his head and neck, resulting in temporary bouts of confusion.

The episodes are without warning, Spencer said, and last from 5 to 10 minutes.

His doctors strongly advised him to take time off from work right away to better manage the symptoms through extended rest and a lack of stress, with surgery and its risks as a last-resort option. WTVG management was understanding of the situation and supportive of his need to make his health the immediate priority.

It was Spencer who said no.

“I said, ‘I can’t do that, that’s May sweeps’ ” — Nielsen’s all-important ratings period that determines national and local advertising revenue — “so I left at the end of May.”

In hindsight, he said, “It was a stupid thing to do ... I almost killed myself.

“Some of those mornings, they were just horrible,” he added. “I almost had to have my wife come to work with me in the event I had an episode so that there was somebody here.

“I told my wife, ‘I don’t want to pass out and die alone.’”

There is good news: More than seven weeks into Spencer’s medical leave and the rest is improving his symptoms, just as the doctors said it would.

“They are two or three days a part as opposed to daily,” Spencer said.

The near paralysis of Spencer’s left vocal cord — a trouble he’s battled for several years — also has improved.

In August, he will meet with his doctors to reassess his situation. Spencer would like to return to work. And the station, he said, wants him back.

“They told me, ‘Bill, your job is here. Keep us up to date.’ Now what happens after 90 days, I don’t know. That’s a corporate decision. Maybe they’ve got a position for me. I hope so.”

WTVG news director Brian Trauring said, “We’ve heard from viewers who miss Bill, the staff misses Bill, and we look forward to his return to 13abc as soon as he’s well.”

WTVG has added a part-time meteorologist to the staff, Christa Quinn, who worked at the station in 1999 through 2005 and at WJBK-TV, Fox 2, in Detroit.

Meanwhile, Spencer said the well-wishes are helpful, bolstering his spirit when he gets down about his situation.

“I miss the station. I miss the people,” Spencer said. “Weather’s been a part of my life for 35 years. I don’t want to walk away from it, but what the heck am I going to do? I don’t want to die on TV.”

Contact Kirk Baird at kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.

First Published July 15, 2016, 4:00 a.m.