Washington: Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suffered a heart attack, his campaign confirmed on Friday (local time) after he departed Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas.
“I want to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center for the excellent care that they provided,” Sanders said in a statement cited by CNN.
“After two and a half days in the hospital, I feel great, and after taking a short time off, I look forward to getting back to work,” the statement read.
Sanders’ physicians, Arturo Marchand Jr. (MD), and Arjun Gururaj (MD) confirmed that the Senator was diagnosed with “myocardial infarction” and had two stents placed in a blocked coronary artery, noting that “all other arteries were normal.”
Myocardial infarction is the medical term for a heart attack.
The doctors added that Sanders’ hospital stay and treatment were “uneventful with good expected progress,” and that he had been instructed to follow up with his personal physician.
Thanking his well-wishers for their continued support, Sanders, immediately after being released from the hospital tweeted, “Hello everybody! We’re in Las Vegas. I’m feeling so much better.”
“Thank you for all of the love and warm wishes that you sent me. See you soon on the campaign trail,” he added in the post.
The Senator from Vermont had experienced “chest discomfort” at a campaign event on Tuesday night, according to senior adviser Jeff Weaver.
Weaver said on Wednesday that Sanders will be “cancelling his events and appearances until further notice.”
On Thursday, his campaign confirmed that he will be participating in the next Democratic primary debate on October 15 and that he plans to return home to Vermont before the debate.
Jane Sanders, in a statement released on Thursday afternoon, said that her husband is “up and about” and has not undergone any additional procedures” since the stent insertion.
“He’s been spending the last couple of days just having a good time, talking to people, friends and family and so many well-wishers that have called and his friends and then, of course, the well-wishers that have tweeted, emailed, called, all of our phones. And we just really want to thank them,” she said.