By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — Former first lady Nancy Reagan is continuing to recover from a March fall at her home that left the 90-year-old with fractured ribs, her spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
News of Reagan’s injuries spread after she missed a scheduled appearance Tuesday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Library executive John Heubusch said from the stage that Reagan was watching the event on television at her home in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and would not be able to attend because of her injuries.
Reagan spokeswoman Joanne Drake confirmed that the former first lady fell at her home “weeks ago” and fractured “a number of ribs.”
“She has been recovering slowly and has been adding a few appointments back onto her schedule, but was advised by her doctor not to try and attend large events too far from home just yet,” Drake told the Los Angeles Times.
Reagan personally invited House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan to speak at the Simi Valley library, Drake said, and “really wanted to be there.”
Instead, Drake said Reagan “sent her apologies to him early yesterday.”
The former first lady has been hospitalized in recent years after falling at her home, including a two-day stay in February 2008 and a weeklong stint the following October, when she was treated for a broken pelvis.