The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. REP. JOHN LEWIS LEAVES HOSPITAL AFTER FALLING ILL
Civil rights icon, 78, gets ‘clean bill of health’ after overnight stay.
Following a night of hospitalization after he fell ill Saturday on a flight to Atlanta, U.S. Rep. John Lewis was released on Sunday.
“Rep. John Lewis has been released from the hospital this evening,” spokeswoman Brenda Jones said in a statement to the media. “All tests have been completed, and doctors have given him a ‘clean bill of health.’ He thanks everyone who shared their thoughts, prayers and concerns during his stay.”
The 78-year-old congressman had been kept overnight for what was described as “routine observation.” He was on a flight from Detroit when he started feeling dizzy and sweaty, an aide said Saturday night.
After being hospitalized in Atlanta, the Democrat’s office said in a statement Saturday evening that he was expected to be released Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, an update from the congressman’s spokeswoman Brenda Jones said that he was “resting very comfortably and fully expects to be released very soon.”
No other details were provided about his condition.
Lewis has represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District since 1987.
He was among key activists in the civil rights movement, taking part in the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins, the 1961 Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington and the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, where he was beaten in the skull by a state trooper in Selma, Alabama.
The septuagenarian hasn’t been slowing down lately. Just last month he joined thousands of people marching in Atlanta as part of the nationwide March For Our Lives against gun violence.