Ex-Travel Channel star Valarie D’Elia dies at 64 after health battle as pal recalls one of final moments with reporter

A NEW YORK journalist has died after an 18-month battle with ALS, her news station has confirmed.

Valarie D’Elia was a beloved travel reporter for NY1 and the Travel Channel who visited 103 countries across seven continents during her career.

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Instagram/Valarie D'Elia

Instagram/Valarie D'Elia

The 64-year-old died on Tuesday, leaving behind her husband Ron, NY1 confirmed .

“For nearly two decades, she loved traveling the city, country, and world by air, sea, and train, then reporting back to the NY1 audience,” the announcement read.

She worked for the news station between 1998 and 2017.

D’Elia was best known by New Yorkers for her “Travel with Val” pieces and for other work with HBO , the Travel Channel, and The Travel Show on the WOR Radio Network.

A close friend of the journalist revealed that she had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) 18 months before her death.

ALS is a degenerative motor neuron disease impacting the brain and spinal cord that has no cure.

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“More hard words to write. My dear longtime friend and colleague Valarie D’Elia passed away yesterday after an 18-month struggle with the debilitating nervous system disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” Perry Garfinkel wrote on Facebook.

He then reminisced about his last conversation with D’Elia who had “relentless energy.”

“Only a few months ago she urged me to contact her connection at CBS,” Garfinkel revealed.

“She exhausted even inexhaustible me with her relentless energy and multiple interests.

“But it was when she discovered her Italian heritage birthplace in the village of Castelfranco that she found her passionate mission – to promote it and ancestry research – and in the process discover her purpose.

“She was only 64 years old and I know many in her world and around the world are grieving, as am I.”

Other friends have paid tribute to the journalist with one recalling D’Elia’s “most New Yorker moment.”

“I’m so saddened to hear of Valerie D’Elia’s passing. She was a wonderful friend for many years,” Ramy Gafni wrote.

What is ALS?

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease named after the baseball player who died from the illness.

It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease impacting the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord causing loss of control over muscle movement.

ALS is degenerative and without a cure to the point where sufferers will eventually be unable to speak, eat, move, and breathe.

While there is no definitive cure, there are various treatments that can slow its progression.

The average life expectancy of someone diagnosed with ALS is between two and five years.

Initial symptoms can include:

• Difficulty picking up or handling an everyday object like a pen or cell phone.
• Involuntary changes in vocal pitch when speaking.
• Muscle weakness
• Slurred speech
• Abnormal fatigue in arms and/or legs
• Dropping things
• Muscle cramps and twitches
• Periods of uncontrollable laughing or crying

Diagnosis is determined through clinical examination as there is no one test for ALS.

Source: ALS Association

“We always laughed that one time on her way to see me she was mugged.

“She called to let me know she had to reschedule and I suggested she come over anyway for tea or something stronger.

“She always said that was the most New Yorker Moment: ‘I was mugged. Would you like some tea?'”

“She had a great sense of humor and she will be missed,” he added.

“I am beyond devastated by this news,” another friend of D’Elia’s wrote in the comments.

“I loved her travel segments!!!!” a shocked fan added.

In an interview about her work in 2019, D’Elia told The New York Post that she was usually away from home for about 60% of the year.

She revealed that her family has a deep history and love of travel with her great-grandfather launching a travel agency in the early 1900s.

Her one piece of advice to travelers was to “pack light and forget the blow dryer.”

“Who wants to worry about all that stuff?” she said.

“You’ll be amazed at how liberated you’ll feel.”