Billy Graham released from hospital

c. 2011 Religion News Service
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham returned to his North Carolina home Tuesday (Dec. 6) after a six-day stay in a nearby hospital where he was treated for pneumonia.
Graham, 93, responded well to antibiotics and grew stronger and more mobile after physical therapy, said Dr. Mark Hellrich, the pulmonologist who treated Graham at Mission Hospital in Asheville.


"I am especially looking forward to seeing my home decorated for Christmas and spending the holidays with members of my family," Graham said in a hospital statement.


He also expressed thanks for "the many thoughts and prayers expressed by individuals across the country and around the world" during his hospital stay.


Graham, who suffers from significant vision and hearing loss, will continue to receive physical therapy at his mountain home in Montreat to allow him to return to his usual level of activity within the next few weeks, according to his doctors.


Graham continues to write, publishing "Nearing Home" this fall, a memoir on growing old and grieving for his wife Ruth Graham, who died in 2007, two years after he held his last official crusade in New York.