59°
George H.W. Bush is awake, alert and talking after he was admitted to intensive care earlier this week, a family spokesman said Tuesday, April 24.
Bush, 93, was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital Sunday morning after contracting an infection that spread to his blood, family spokesman Jim McGrath said, a day after a funeral was held for his wife, Barbara Bush.
According to McGrath, the 41st President has said he is determined to get healthy and get to Maine this summer. On Monday, McGrath said former President Bush was "responding to treatments and appears to be recovering."
According to a source close to the former Republican President, Bush was admitted to the hospital with an infection that led to sepsis, which can be life-threatening. He was in critical condition, the source said.
Bush revealed several years ago he suffers from a form of Parkinson's disease, which has left him unable to walk, so he gets around either in a wheelchair or a scooter.
The former President's hospitalization is especially upsetting for his family because it follows so closely on the death of his wife of 73 years last Tuesday, as reported here by Daily Voice.
"Right after a big loss -- certainly like he has had -- there is some data that shows that some people can develop problems with immunity and become more susceptible to infections," CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said in this news report. "Infections they otherwise would have been able to fight become more serious."
The day after his wife's death, the former President paid tribute to her in a statement:
"I always knew Barbara was the most beloved woman in the world, and in fact I used to tease her that I had a complex relationship about that fact. But the truth is the outpouring of love and friendship being directed at The Enforcer is lifting us all up," Bush said, using her nickname.
"We have faith she is in heaven, and we know that life will go on -- as she would have it. So cross the Bushes off your worry list."
George H.W. Bush was born in Milton, Mass., but moved as a young child with his family to Greenwich.
The 41st president, was raised in the Bush family home on Grove Lane in the Dearfield Park area off West Putnam Avenue and close to the Greenwich Library.
Bush's father, Prescott, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963.
George H. W. Bush went to Greenwich Country Day School before attending boarding school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. At the age of 18, he volunteered to serve his country after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and he became one of the youngest aviators in the U.S. Navy.
He served with distinction and was rescued by a submarine when his torpedo bomber was shot down after attacking a Japanese-held island.
While in the Navy, Bush married Barbara Pierce on Jan. 6, 1945, in Rye. They met in 1941 during the Christmas holidays at a country club dance in Greenwich.
After the war, Bush attended Yale University in New Haven, where his son, George W. Bush was born on campus in 1946. He remains the only president born in the Nutmeg State.
George H.W. Bush later moved his young family to Texas and made his fortune in the oil business before entering into Republican politics.
He became vice president in 1980 under Ronald Reagan, and followed Reagan as president in 1988. He lost a bid for re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton, who settled in nearby Chappaqua after his two terms in office.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Cliffside Park-Edgewater and receive free news updates.
