Posted on Aug 31, 2007 | by Staff

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP)--Evangelist Billy Graham was released Aug. 30 after being hospitalized nearly two weeks for intestinal bleeding.

Graham, 88, had been taken to Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville, N.C., early on Aug. 18 for observation and was listed in fair condition.

A colonoscopy on Aug. 22 revealed that the bleeding likely was caused by a tangle of small blood vessels in the lining of the colon, called an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). According to a hospital news release, Graham was "successfully treated with cauterization, and there has been no further evidence of bleeding."

Only rarely is AVM surgery required, the hospital noted. "Bleeding from an AVM may be chronic, causing anemia, or it may be rapid, as it was in Mr. Graham's case," the hospital release also stated.

Graham's physician, Lucian Rice, an internal medicine specialist, was quoted in the news release as giving an optimistic prognosis: "We have been pleased that he has been able to come back from this incident as well as he has. He will continue to have therapy at home, and I feel that he can have a very good recovery."

Upon his release from the hospital, Graham was taken back to his home in nearby Montreat, N.C.

Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross told the Asheville Citizen-Times that the evangelist hopes to start working on a new book this fall.

Graham suffers from Parkinson's disease and age-related macular degeneration as well as other health problems. He last spoke publicly at the funeral for his wife, Ruth, in June.
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Compiled by Art Toalston.