Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Secretary of State John Kerry, became ill with a serious medical condition during a vacation on Nantucket on Sunday and was flown to a hospital in Boston for emergency treatment, the State Department said.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry, 74, grew sick while staying at the family’s vacation home on the Massachusetts island and was in critical condition, according to a person close to the family, but no information was released about the nature of her ailment. An ambulance was summoned to the house around 3:30 p.m. and left shortly afterward for Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
By Sunday evening, doctors had stabilized her but determined that her condition was too serious for the small facility on Nantucket and transported her to Massachusetts General Hospital on the mainland. Mr. Kerry, who had arrived on the island a few days earlier after a long overseas trip, accompanied her to Boston. Another person familiar with the situation said her condition was not a result of an accident but would not elaborate.
“The family is grateful for the outpouring of support it has received and aware of the interest in her condition, but they ask for privacy at this time,” said Glen Johnson, a spokesman for Mr. Kerry.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry, an heiress to the H. J. Heinz ketchup fortune, became well known to many Americans during her husband’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2004. She was previously married to former Senator John Heinz, a Pennsylvania Republican who died in an airplane crash in 1991, and married Mr. Kerry, then a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, in 1995.
Her sometimes bracing candor on the campaign trail at times made Mr. Kerry’s aides uncomfortable. At one point, she suggested that the first lady, Laura Bush, a former teacher and librarian, had never “had a real job.” She later apologized.
Born in Mozambique, educated in South Africa and Switzerland, and fluent in five languages, Mrs. Heinz Kerry has served for years as the board chairwoman of the Heinz Family Foundation and is a patron of environmental causes. Among other things, the foundation awards $250,000 grants each year to individuals who have made significant contributions in areas like arts, technology and public policy.
In September 2009, she was found to have breast cancer and she later disclosed it publicly and urged women to have regular mammograms, which caught her condition early.
Mr. Kerry spent a long Fourth of July weekend at Nantucket with his wife and came under criticism when he went boating on the day that President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt was ousted by the military. The State Department flatly denied that he had been on a boat that day, only to retract that two days later.
Mr. Kerry had been due to return to Washington for meetings this week with Chinese officials and had been planning to make his sixth trip to the Middle East since taking office this year.
Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry, 74, grew sick while staying at the family’s vacation home on the Massachusetts island and was in critical condition, according to a person close to the family, but no information was released about the nature of her ailment. An ambulance was summoned to the house around 3:30 p.m. and left shortly afterward for Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
By Sunday evening, doctors had stabilized her but determined that her condition was too serious for the small facility on Nantucket and transported her to Massachusetts General Hospital on the mainland. Mr. Kerry, who had arrived on the island a few days earlier after a long overseas trip, accompanied her to Boston. Another person familiar with the situation said her condition was not a result of an accident but would not elaborate.
“The family is grateful for the outpouring of support it has received and aware of the interest in her condition, but they ask for privacy at this time,” said Glen Johnson, a spokesman for Mr. Kerry.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry, an heiress to the H. J. Heinz ketchup fortune, became well known to many Americans during her husband’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2004. She was previously married to former Senator John Heinz, a Pennsylvania Republican who died in an airplane crash in 1991, and married Mr. Kerry, then a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, in 1995.
Her sometimes bracing candor on the campaign trail at times made Mr. Kerry’s aides uncomfortable. At one point, she suggested that the first lady, Laura Bush, a former teacher and librarian, had never “had a real job.” She later apologized.
Born in Mozambique, educated in South Africa and Switzerland, and fluent in five languages, Mrs. Heinz Kerry has served for years as the board chairwoman of the Heinz Family Foundation and is a patron of environmental causes. Among other things, the foundation awards $250,000 grants each year to individuals who have made significant contributions in areas like arts, technology and public policy.
In September 2009, she was found to have breast cancer and she later disclosed it publicly and urged women to have regular mammograms, which caught her condition early.
Mr. Kerry spent a long Fourth of July weekend at Nantucket with his wife and came under criticism when he went boating on the day that President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt was ousted by the military. The State Department flatly denied that he had been on a boat that day, only to retract that two days later.
Mr. Kerry had been due to return to Washington for meetings this week with Chinese officials and had been planning to make his sixth trip to the Middle East since taking office this year.
Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting.