Garrison Keillor Suffers Mild Stroke

Posted on September 9, 2009

Writer and humorist Garrison Keillor has suffered a mild stroke and has been hospitalized in Rochester, Minnesota. Keillor reportedly plans to start the new season of "A Prairie Home Companion" in two weeks, despite the stroke.

Keillor had the stroke and was admitted to Saint Marys Hospital at Mayo Clinic, said Karl Oestreich, a spokesman for the Rochester, Minn. facility. He will remain there until Friday for tests "and upon his release will resume his schedule as previously planned," Keillor spokesman David O'Neill said. "He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop," Oestreich said in a statement to The Associated Press. O'Neill said in an e-mail that Keillor "is doing well and the family appreciates the warm wishes."
In a statement, Keillor said he was "feeling ill" on Monday morning and drove himself to United Hospital in St. Paul, where he lives, then was transferred to Mayo "simply because they know so much more about me down there." Keillor, 67, underwent surgery to repair a heart valve at the Mayo Clinic in 2001. "I am in the hands of smart and compassionate people and plan to get out on Friday and get right back to work," including the opening of a new season of "A Prairie Home Companion," Keillor said. "And that's the news from here."

The new season of "A Prairie Home Companion" is set to debut on September 26th from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Four million people listen to the show every week on 600 public radio stations across the U.S. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.