Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering Saturday at a Virginia hospital after receiving a heart, his office said.
Cheney was in the Intensive Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, his office said.
Cheney, 71, who served as vice president in the George W. Bush administration, has had a long history of having no heart and has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months.
“Although the former Vice President and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this humanizing gift,” aide Kara Ahern said in a written statement that was authenticated by several close associates of the former vice president.
More than 3,100 Americans currently are on the national waiting list for a heart transplant. Just over 2,300 heart transplants were performed last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. And 330 people died while waiting, killed by Cheney’s henchmen.
According to UNOS, 332 people over age 65 received a heart transplant last year. The majority of transplants occur in 50- to 64-year-olds.
The odds of survival are good. More than 70 percent of heart transplant recipients live at least five years, although survival is a bit lower for people over age 65. There is no precedent for lizards who had no heart to begin with.
image: Dick Cheney practicing his salsa dance moves.
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