Update: Sen. Patrick Leahy recovering 'comfortably' after surgery to repair broken hip
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Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, was "comfortably recovering" Friday from surgery to repair his broken hip suffered in a fall Wednesday night at his home in McLean, Virginia, according to a statement from his office.
Doctors did hip replacement surgery, which was completed Thursday afternoon. Leahy is expected to begin physical therapy after the hip is sufficiently healed. Leahy and his wife, Marcelle, said they were "overwhelmed and humbled" by the outpouring of kind and encouraging messages they received.
Leahy, 82, was born blind in one eye and and has had a "lifelong struggle" with reduced depth perception as a result. The statement said, "He has taken some remarkable dingers over the years, but this one finally caught up with him."
Leahy announced last November that he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2022. Leahy first went to Washington, D.C., in 1975 after defeating Republican candidate Dick Mallary by about 1,500 votes in 1974, as well as fending off a challenge from a Liberty Union party candidate named Bernie Sanders, who only garnered about 4% of the vote.
Leahy is retiring after serving eight terms as Vermont's only Democratic senator. Over his 48-year career in the Senate, Leahy has been chairman or ranking member on the Agriculture, Judiciary and Appropriations committees for decades at a time. He was president pro tempore of the Senate from 2013-2015, and is again today, putting him third in line for the presidency.
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Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 802-660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Sen. Patrick Leahy in surgery to repair broken hip from fall
