Harold Camping Suffers Mild Stroke; Released From Hospital
Family Radio Network preacher Harold Camping, known for his failed rapture prediction, will be released from an Oakland, Calif.-area hospital where he was treated for a mild stroke, Family Radio employees said Monday.
Craig Hulsebos, radio host for several programs on Family Radio, announced during a broadcast Monday that Camping is expected to be released from the hospital today.
Rosa, a phone operator at Family Radio, also confirmed news of Camping's hospital discharge to The Christian Post.
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"We will be airing pre-recorded programs of Open Forum until further notice," she told CP Monday.
Camping, 89, suffered from a mild stroke on Thursday evening, Family Radio said in a statement sent to The Christian Post on Monday.
"He is presently recuperating in a local hospital and the doctors are pleased with his progress. Mr. Camping's family appreciates your thoughts and prayers," the statement says.
A woman identifying herself as Camping's wife, Shirley, told CP on Sunday that her husband was "doing very well" and that his stroke was "not serious at all."
According to The Oakland Tribune, a neighbor of Camping had reported that the stroke affected the radio preacher's speech, causing it to slur.
Employees at Family Radio Network stations say they have not received word their president and general manager would be well enough to continue the Open Forum program, where he takes questions live from radio listeners each weeknight.
"He needs to rest," Suong Tran, public affairs director of KFRN, a Family Radio Network station in Long Beach, Calif., commented to CP.
"He's very passionate about the Bible and sharing and teaching, so if the doctor told him to stay home on bedrest, he would do it from home."
Harold Camping made headlines last month for predicting that the rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21. He later adjusted his prediction, saying judgment came in a “spiritual” sense that day rather than in a physical one marked by earthquakes.
In Family Radio broadcasts following his failed Rapture prediction, Camping has maintained that his prediction of the End of the World remains accurate and is still scheduled for October 21, 2011.
