Kerry’s wife moved to Boston rehab hospital as condition improves
Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Secretary of State John Kerry who suffered a seizure on Sunday, has been transferred to a Boston rehabilitation hospital after doctors said her conditions had further improved, the State Department said on Thursday.
Heinz Kerry, 74, was rushed to a hospital on Nantucket island off mainland Massachusetts on Sunday and flown to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was treated for seizure-like symptoms.
“Her condition has been upgraded from ‘fair’ to ‘good,’ allowing her move today from Massachusetts General Hospital to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston for the next phase of her recovery,” said Glen Johnson, a department official who acts as Kerry’s personal spokesman.
Johnson confirmed that Heinz Kerry had suffered a seizure but said doctors were still trying to determine the cause. Doctors had earlier ruled out a stroke, heart attack or a brain tumour.
“Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s time at Spaulding will focus on completing her recovery and ensuring the quickest possible return to her family and civic life,” Johnson said.
Kerry attended the opening ceremony of U.S-China talks in Washington on Wednesday but returned immediately to Boston. During his remarks at the ceremony, he choked up as he spoke about his wife’s illness and remarked on the outpouring of support.
Johnson said Kerry will split his time between Boston and Washington and resume his official travel schedule soon. Since his appointment in February as Washington’s top diplomat, Kerry has maintained a busy travel schedule, dealing with Syria’s civil war and trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Heinz Kerry chairs the Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. She was born in Mozambique and was married to Republican Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz III, an heir to the Heinz food fortune, until his death in a helicopter crash in 1991.
She married Kerry in 1995 while he was a Democratic US senator from Massachusetts.
