KENNEDY RUSHED TO MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL WITH "STROKE-LIKE" SYMPTOMS

HYANNIS -- U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was rushed by ambulance to Cape Cod Hospital this morning after falling ill at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. Hyannis fire responded to the compound after a call was made around 8:30 a.m. It's unclear what Kennedy's medical condition is, but after he spent almost two hours in the emergency room a decision was made to transfer him to Mass General Hospital in Boston. Kennedy, 76, was placed on a stretcher and wheeled out to the MedFlight helicopter around 10:15 a.m. where it took off from Barnstable Municipal Airport.
The Kennedy family is preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event in Hyannisport this afternoon, which is a fund-raiser for the organization. Best Buddies was founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver and helps people with intellectual disabilities.

Senator Kennedy received surgery in October of last year to his neck in an attempt to unblock his carotid artery, a condition known to cause strokes. The surgery was considered by his surgeon "routine, uneventful, and successful." The blockage was discovered in a routine MRI conducted periodically to check on the senator's spine, which was injured in a 1964 plane crash.

Patients with blockages in one neck artery may have similar buildups of fat and cholesterol in other blood vessels as well, but Kennedy's doctors said at the time that there was no need for any treatment on his right carotid artery, and that he had passed a cardiac stress test prior to the surgery.

Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts, but he has been bothered by an aching back since a 1964 plane crash that killed a pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. Then-Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., who was traveling with Kennedy, pulled him from the wreckage but Kennedy suffered a back injury, punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding. Because of the 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 has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962. He is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is known as a liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave, and the minimum wage.
He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. He has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 nomination. Obama said that his "thoughts and prayers" are with Kennedy. "We are going to try to find out as quickly as possible what is going on," Obama said, and added that he would call Kennedy's wife, Vicky. "He is one of my favorite people," Obama said.
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children in the famous family of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. His oldest brother, Joe, died in World War II; two other brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s