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Sun May 18, 2008

Seizure sends Kennedy to hospital

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Sen. Edward Kennedy is taken from a Hyannis ambulance to a waiting Medflight helicopter for transport to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Saturday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
About the senator
•Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate, was elected in 1962.

•A high point in the Massachusetts senator's life was his 1980 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, which he eventually lost to Jimmy Carter.

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By The Associated Press
BOSTON — Edward M. Kennedy holds the title of "senator” although he could equally lay claim to the moniker "survivor.”

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The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat has endured the deaths of his older brothers as well as an airplane crash and a Chappaquiddick car accident that killed an aide.

On Saturday, though, Kennedy was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital after suffering a seizure. He was later flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for evaluation.

An official who declined to be identified by name, had said that Kennedy had displayed stroke-like symptoms. Kennedy underwent surgery in October to repair a nearly complete blockage in a major neck artery, an operation performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.

But Kennedy's primary care physician, Dr. Larry Ronan, said in a statement Saturday evening that preliminary tests showed the senator did not suffer a stroke, and "is not in any immediate danger.”

"Over the next couple of days, Sen. Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time,” Ronan said.

By Saturday afternoon, the senator was conscious and talking and felt well enough to watch a Boston Red Sox game on television, said spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, addressing the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno, said Vickie Kennedy told him her husband's condition was serious.

"But the one thing I can say, if there ever was a fighter ... it's Ted Kennedy,” Reid said.

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