Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, suffered a small stroke and was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday.
“According to her physician, the prognosis is cautiously excellent,” McCain said in a statement Tuesday.
Cindy McCain, 49, had a small bleed in her brain and her speech is mildly affected, said Robert Spetzler, director of the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
He said the bleeding Monday was caused by a rupture of a small blood vessel, possibly from a spike of high blood pressure.
McCain said he expected his wife to be released from the hospital within a few days, pending test results.
The 67-year-old Arizona Republican was in New York City on a book tour when his wife had the stroke, according to his Washington office. He was with her at the hospital Tuesday morning.
Cindy McCain, the millionaire daughter of an Arizona beer magnate, recently traveled to Sri Lanka to observe the work of the HALO Trust, a group that has been working to remove land mines and unexploded ordnance from past battlefields, according to the senator’s office.
In August 1994, she disclosed she had been addicted to painkillers and had several times stolen medicine from a charity she founded. She said she became addicted to the medication while suffering severe back problems and quit in 1992.
The McCains have four children, ages 12 to 19.