Cheney Released From Hospital

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was released this morning from the Fairfax, Va., hospital where he received a heart transplant on March 24.

NPR's Don Gonyea forwards us this statement from Cheney's office:

"Former Vice President Dick Cheney was released today from Inova Fairfax Hospital Heart and Vascular Institute, 10 days after heart transplant surgery. He would like to thank the physicians at Inova Fairfax and George Washington University Hospitals for the outstanding care they have provided. He and his family are also grateful to the ICU nursing staff at the Heart and Vascular Institute.

"As he leaves the hospital, the former vice president and his family want to again express their deep gratitude to the donor and the donor's family for this remarkable gift."

Cheney has had heart problems since he was a young man. He suffered the first of five heart attacks at the age of 37. Now 71, he had been waiting for more than 20 months for a new heart. Since 2010, he had been living with a pump and external battery that dealt with what was described as "end stage heart failure."

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