September 8, 2008
Sharon's condition worsens
JERUSALEM - The condition of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a stroke in January, has deteriorated, though there was no immediate danger to his life, hospital officials said yesterday.
Sharon, 78, was suffering kidney problems at Sheba Medical Center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Tel Hashomer. Hospital officials also said brain checks had shown changes in Sharon's brain tissue, but gave no further details.
"Over the past two days, the condition of the former prime minister has deteriorated. His kidney function is worsening and he's amassing liquids in his body," the hospital said in a statement.
Hospital officials said doctors were conducting additional checks to determine what caused the change in his condition and how to treat him.
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Ariel Sharon
Born: Sharon was born as Ariel Scheinerman on Feb. 27, 1928, in Kfar Malal, a cooperative farm in what was then British-administered Palestine. Education: He dropped out of university to join the Alexandroni Brigade in Israel's 1948 War of Independence.
Career: Commanded Armored Reserve Division 138 in the 1967 Middle East War. Chief of Southern Command in 1971. Retired from the army in 1973 and spearheaded formation of the Likud party. Reentered military and commanded an armored division in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Elected to the Knesset in 1974. Resigned. Appointed security advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1975. In the late '70s concentrated on scattering settlements across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, raising Palestinian ire. Served variously as agriculture minister, defense minister, minister of housing and construction, infrastructure minister and foreign minister. Became prime minister in 2001. Left Likud and formed Kadima party last year.
Personal: His first wife, Margalit, died in a car accident in 1962. A year later, he married her younger sister, Lily. Lily died of cancer in March 2000. In 1967, Sharon's only son by Margalit, Gur, died when a playmate accidentally shot the boy in the head. Has two surviving sons, Omri and Gilad.
Two of Sharon's former aides, who said they spoke to his son Gilad, said there was no immediate danger to the former leader's life. The former aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Israel's Army Radio cited medical experts as saying this type of deterioration is not uncommon for people who have been in a coma for such a long time.
Sharon, Israel's most popular politician, had a small stroke in December and was put on blood thinners before he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage in January.
Experts have said Sharon's chances of ever waking up after his massive stroke are not good.
Sharon's stroke came after he saw through his contentious plan to withdraw Israel from the Gaza Strip after 38 years, and just two months after he shook up the Israeli political map by bolting his hard-line Likud Party to form the centrist Kadima faction.
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