Former Mayor Richard M. Daley, the longest-serving mayor in Chicago history, was hospitalized earlier this month after suffering what his brother described Tuesday as a third stroke.
Bill Daley said his older brother, who turns 84 on Friday, is “fine now.” He returned home after a few days in the hospital and is now undergoing rehab.
The younger Daley described the former mayor’s episode as a full-blown stroke, but a comparatively minor one compared to the serious stroke that Daley suffered in 2014.
“He had a stroke. He’s fine now. He’s home. He’s doing some rehab stuff and that’s about it… That’s life,” said Bill Daley, who served as U.S. commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton and White House chief of staff under former President Barack Obama.
“They said he’s out of trouble. He has to do a little rehab. But he’s physically walking around doing everything and whatever… But you’ve got to watch yourself. [He’s] not in any danger, or anything other than what everybody who’s 84 is in danger of.”
Bill Daley said there’s a big difference between his brother’s 2014 stroke and the comparatively minor stroke he suffered earlier this month.
“I don’t know this doctor’s business but usually, your first one is the most damaging. The first time, he was in for, God I don’t know, a couple of weeks… He did rehab for a long time” in 2014, Bill Daley said.
“I talked to him the other day he seemed to be fine. Much better. Obviously in no danger or anything… The fact that he was out [after this most recent stroke] in three days and he was seeing visitors within hours doesn’t indicate to me that it’s serious” this time.
Bill Daley said the advice doctors have given the former mayor are the “things that everybody should do” if they want to live a long and vibrant life.
“Watch your diet. Keep your stress under control. All of that sort of stuff that they tell everybody who gets to a certain age. Lose weight. Keep your blood pressure down,” Bill Daley said. “Maybe he read one of your articles and got all excited.”
Bill Daley couldn’t resist making a playful joke when asked whether the former mayor’s speech was impaired.
“Not that I noticed… Some people thought his speech was impaired 40 years ago,” Bill Daley said laughing.
The Daley brothers’ father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley, suffered a serious stroke while in office in 1974, but returned to work and was elected to a sixth term in 1975. He died of heart attack in December, 1976.
Richard M. Daley has had a series of serious health problems.
In 2000, Daley was rushed to the hospital with what he thought was a heart attack. It turned out to be hypertension that close associates believed at the time was stress-induced. They said that the episode occurred the day the Chicago Sun-Times exposed how mayoral pal Oscar D’Angelo had engineered a deal to put two friends of Maggie Daley in business as part of a lucrative bookstore concession at O’Hare Airport.
Doctors disclosed then that, despite his family history, Daley had not had a physical in ten years.
Fourteen years later, Daley suffered his most serious stroke. He had a less serious stroke a few years ago.
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