Former Vice President Dick Cheney underwent heart transplant surgery this morning at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia and is recovering in the intensive care unit.
The 71-year-old politician has been on a waiting list for a new heart for the past 20 months. The identity or circumstances surrounding the availability of the donor organ has not been revealed.
Cheney underwent bypass surgery in 1988 and has suffered five heart attacks since the age of 37, the last occurring in 2010. He has also undergone two angioplasty procedures to open narrowed coronary arteries and was fitted with an internal pacemaker in 2001.
His aide Kara Ahern issued a written statement: “Although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift.”
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