NEW YORK — Former first lady Barbara Bush is in failing health and will not seek additional medical care after a series of recent hospitalizations, a spokesman for the Bush family said Sunday. Bush, 92, will “instead focus on comfort care” for unspecified health complications, according to a statement.
Bush is the wife of former President George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States who is now 93, and mother of 43rd President George W. Bush. She is only the second first lady in American history whose son also ascended to the nation’s highest office, the other being Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams.
“It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself — thanks to her abiding faith — but for others,” a statement from the office of George H.W. Bush said Sunday. “She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving.”
Both Barbara Bush and her husband, who live in Texas, have confronted numerous medical difficulties in recent years. In Jan. 2017, they were both hospitalized for separate health issues and were unable to attend President Trump’s inauguration.
“Barbara and I are so sorry we can’t be there for your inauguration on January 20th. My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it likely will put me six feet under. Same for Barbara. So I guess we’re stuck in Texas,” the former president wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump at the time. “But we will be with you and the country in spirit.”
Barbara Bush was born Barbara Pierce in 1925 in Rye, New York, the third child of Pauline and Marvin Pierce, a magazine executive. She met George Herbert Walker Bush at a school dance in Greenwich, Connecticut, when she was 16. They wed in 1945 when she was 19 and would have six children, one of whom died at the age of 3. Their marriage is the longest of any first couple in U.S. history.
Originally Published on cbsnews
