The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Source: 

Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:47 PM

Former First Lady Barbara Bush Is In "Failing Health" At Age 92; Will Not Seek Additional Medical Treatment

The 92-year-old wife of former President George H.W. Bush will instead focus on comfort care, a family spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement.

“Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs. Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care. 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,” the statement read.

“She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving,” it continued.

McGrath did not elaborate on Bush’s health problems. For decades, she has been treated for Graves' disease, a thyroid condition.

Barbara Bush has been married to George H.W. Bush since 1945, when she was 19 and he was 20. They have five children, including former President George W. Bush. A sixth child died as a toddler.

The Bushes have been married longer than any presidential couple in American history and Barbara Bush is one of only two first ladies who was also the mother of a president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams.
The former first lady wrote Smith College's alumnae magazine last month she's "still old and still in love with the man" she married in 1945, the Boston Globe reported.

“I have had great medical care and more operations than you would believe. I’m not sure God will recognize me; I have so many new body parts! Also, George Bush has given me the world. He is the best — thoughtful and loving,” she said.