By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
After spending two weeks at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Rev. Jesse Jackson has been discharged, according to a Nov. 24 statement from his family. The civil rights icon was hospitalized on Nov. 12 for observation related to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurological disorder affecting movement and balance, which he was diagnosed with in April.
Jackson, 84, remains in stable condition, his family said.
“Our family would like to thank the countless friends and supporters who have reached out, visited and prayed for our father. We bear witness to the fact that prayer works and would also like to thank the professional, caring and amazing medical and security staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital,” said Yusef Jackson, son of Jesse Jackson and spokesperson for the family, in a Nov. 24 statement. “We humbly ask for your continued prayers throughout this precious time.”
During his hospital stay, Jackson spent several days in the intensive care unit (ICU). On Nov. 16, his family clarified that he was not on life support and highlighted his call for 2,000 churches to provide 2,000 food baskets to help families facing malnutrition during the holiday season.
Jackson, a mentee of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is known for creating Operation People United to Serve Humanity (PUSH), an organization dedicated to advancing economic justice for Black communities across the U.S, in 1971. He later launched the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984 to pursue equal rights for all Americans. In 1996, he merged the two organizations.
Jackson had lived with Parkinson’s disease since 2013 until his diagnosis was updated to PSP in April.
