The Governor remains in a Richmond hospital with 7 broken ribs and a punctured lung that continues to fill with blood. [read_more]McAuliffe was injured on December 28th while horseback riding on safari in Tanzania. He was unaware of the broken ribs or punctured lungs until he finally visited a doctor on January 12th, despite the fact that he had been in severe pain, unable to sleep or even lie down, and suffering from labored breathing. A local paramedic in Tanzania told him his ribs were only bruised, not broken, and the Governor continued to believe him until his breathing became very labored. From the Washington Post,
“So I continued on for seven more days of safari out in that Jeep, bouncing up and down hills,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post from his room at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. “It was obviously very painful. But you know, listen, I want my kids to have a good vacation.”
He said it helped that as he sat up nights, he read “Unbroken,” the World War II survival story of Louis Zamperini.“Honestly, that’s what I thought about at night to keep me going, to try and get the pain out of my mind: If Louis can be subjected to this over there, I can handle a couple bruised ribs. I didn’t know anything. I was in Tanzania.”
The Governor didn’t know anything about his injuries while he was in Tanzania and waited weeks to see a doctor after his return to Richmond. Does this make him a very tough guy or just a very foolish man? He will remain at VCU hospital for at least another day.
