Teresa Heinz Kerry, the philanthropist and wife of Secretary of State John Kerry, was discharged from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston Saturday after exhibiting seizure-like symptoms three weeks ago. According to a statement by Secretary Kerry’s personal spokesman Glen Johnson, Heinz Kerry is expected to make a full recovery.
Heinz Kerry was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital from the family’s vacation home on Nantucket on July 7. There she was stabilized, then transferred to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. She and Kerry had been vacationing on Nantucket over the July 4 weekend.
Though the cause of her illness is unknown, doctors have ruled out a brain tumor, heart attack, or stroke, according to Johnson.
Heinz Kerry, 74, is heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune. Her first husband, Senator John Heinz, died in a 1991 plane crash over a Pennsylvania school yard, which killed seven people, including two children.
She and Kerry married in 1995.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, Heinz Kerry has been an outspoken advocate for preemptive screening. She underwent surgery and radiation treatments.
Heinz Kerry is expected to return to her civic work after a period of rest and outpatient treatment. She thanked her caregivers in the statement, saying “It was amazing, a miracle. They are the kindest people, who love what they do and do it superbly well.”
“I’ve always known Massachusetts is blessed to have some of the greatest health care in the world, but we’ve just lived it, and are grateful to all,” Kerry said in the statement. He also thanked the State Department Diplomatic Security Service agents, who served as the first responders when Heinz Kerry became ill.