Kennedy Hospitalized With Stroke Symptoms

BOSTON (WBZ) ― U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy was airlifted to a Boston hospital Saturday morning after suffering stroke-like symptoms at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport.

He was first rushed to Cape Cod Hospital, and after being in the emergency room for two hours he was transported to Barnstable Airport and was then flown to Massachusetts General Hospital.

The 76-year-old senator's condition was unknown Saturday.

The emergency call first came in at 8:19 a.m. at the Kennedy compound at 50 Marchant Ave.

Last October, Kennedy under went surgery at Mass. General after a partially blocked artery was found in his neck. The blockage was in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the brain and face.

The surgery was successful and Kennedy returned to work later that month.

Kennedy has been bothered by an aching back since a 1964 plane crash, which killed a pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. Democratic Senator, Birch Bayh, from Indiana, who was traveling with Kennedy, pulled him from the wreckage. However, Kennedy suffered a back injury, punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding. Because of persistent pain, the senator often leans on a wall or sits on a stool when he otherwise would be expected to stand for an extended period.

Kennedy was first elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy, who is the second most senior member of the Senate, has since been re-elected to seven full terms, representing Massachusetts for 43 years.

Kennedy is the lone surviving son in his storied political family. His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Robert was assassinated in 1968, when he was running for president.

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