0:59
- ABC News
- April 15, 2018
Former First Lady Barbara Bush in failing health
Former First Lady Barbara Bush is in failing health: Family spokesman.
0:59
Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also took to Twitter to send Mrs. Bush well wishes.
\"Prayers going up for a woman of great faith, great strength, and an unwavering love of country,\" Haley tweeted. \"Our country is better because of former First Lady Barbara Bush.\"
Prayers going up for a woman of great faith, great strength, and an unwavering love of country. Our country is better because of former First Lady Barbara Bush ?????? pic.twitter.com/pewdIu2hjr
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) April 15, 2018
Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton also tweeted that she is \"keeping Barbara Bush and her family in my heart and prayers.\"
\"I will never forget how kind she was to me on every occasion we met, and how fondly the White House staff always spoke of her,\" Clinton wrote.
Keeping Barbara Bush and her family in my heart and prayers. I will never forget how kind she was to me on every occasion we met, and how fondly the White House staff always spoke of her.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 15, 2018
During her tenure as the nation's first lady, Barbara Bush, the mother of six children, was a champion for global literacy and continued the work after her and her husband left the White House. In 1989, she formed the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which encourages parents to read to their children.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/barbara-bush-03-as-AP-180415_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
\"Literacy fits in with so many other things,\" she once told the Chicago Tribune. \"If more people could read, fewer people would have AIDS. There would be less homelessness. I'm absolutely convinced of that.\"
Mrs. Bush has had a long history of health problems, dating back to her time as the first lady. In 1989, she revealed that she suffered from Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid. She later began taking medications for the disease and received radiation as part of her treatment.
After experiencing abdominal pains in November 2008, Mrs. Bush was hospitalized at Methodist Hospital in Houston in November of 2008. She underwent laparoscopic surgery to close a hole in her small intestine caused by an ulcer.
Four months later, she underwent precautionary open heart surgery at the same hospital to replace her aortic valve. Hospital officials reported that the procedure was a success.
During her four years as the first lady, and eight years before that as the wife of the vice president in the Reagan administration, Mrs. Bush embodied what many believed to be the traditionally dutiful political wife: silent on most issues, but enthusiastically supportive of her husband and family.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/barbara-bush-02-as-ap-180415_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
In her 1994 book -- \"Barbara Bush: A Memoir\" -- she revealed her pro-choice stance on abortion, a position that ran contrary to her husband's.
But speaking to Barbara Walters on ABC News' \"20/20\" upon publication of the book, Barbara Bush indicated she was sincere about the emphasis the book placed on her family and friends. In the book, she reproduced an open letter to her children containing her advice on life.
\"Value your friends,\" she wrote. \"They are your most valuable asset.
\"Love your children,\" she added. \"You are the best children any two people ever had. I know you will be as lucky. Your kids are great. Dad and I love them more than life itself.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/barbara-bush-01-as-AP-180415_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Julie Percha and M.L. Nestel contributed to this report.
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