Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a sister of slain President John F. Kennedy and founder of the Special Olympics for the mentally retarded, was in critical condition yesterday with a post-operative infection.
Shriver, 79, mother of five children, including NBC correspondent Maria Shriver (who is married to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger), was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
She had surgery there Oct. 12 to remove a benign pancreatic tumor, and doctors predicted a full recovery, according to a statement released by her son, Maryland state lawmaker Mark Shriver.
She went home Oct. 21, but returned to the hospital Monday complaining of pain.
Doctors diagnosed a post-operative infection and operated Tuesday to stem it.
“Her husband, her children are with her, and ask for everybody’s prayers,” Mark Shriver’s statement said.
Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Shriver’s niece, canceled her appearance at the funeral of a sailor killed in the USS Cole attack to be at the hospital. Sen. Edward Kennedy canceled a weekend trip to Massachusetts to remain near his ailing sister.
Shriver’s husband, Sargent Shriver, 84, was the founding director of the Peace Corps and was Sen. George McGovern’s vice-presidential running mate in 1972.
Eunice Kennedy was born in 1921, the fifth oldest of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and his wife, Rose.
She lost two of her brothers to assassins, JFK in 1963 and Robert Kennedy in 1968. Her sister Rosemary was mentally retarded, and Shriver became a tireless crusader for the mentally disabled.
Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968, and currently more than 1 million athletes in about 160 countries take place in the annual events.