Reagan aide denies 'rumours'

2004-06-05 21:37

Los Angeles - Former US president Ronald Reagan's office on Saturday denied his health had declined suddenly, dismissing as "rumours" reports that he could have just weeks or months to live.

Reagan's spokesperson moved to calm speculation amid reports in the US media that the White House had been informed that the end was near for the 93-year-old former leader, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

"He's 93 years old," Reagan family chief of staff Joanne Drake said. "He's had Alzheimer's disease for 10 years.

"There are a lot of rumours, but when there is something significant to report, I will do so," the longtime aide to Reagan and his wife, Nancy, said.

Other sources familiar with Reagan's family said there had been "no significant change" in the condition of the former president, who has rarely been seen in public in the past decade.

US media cited sources "familiar with the situation" as saying that the former statesman's health had deteriorated sharply over the past week and he could die within "weeks or months".

CNN quoted a source as saying: "Don't be surprised if... the time is getting close."

Reagan's office said it had fielded more than 300 calls since Thursday from the media and various dignitaries concerned about Reagan's health.

Rumours about declines in the health of the ailing Reagan, who served as president from 1981-1989, have surfaced periodically for years since he went into isolation in his Bel Air mansion after announcing his illness.

The ex-leader's daughter, Patti Davis, revealed in People magazine in December that her father was no longer able to talk or walk and said it was only his robust physical constitution that was keeping him alive.

She broke the family's strict silence over Reagan's illness in an essay that accompanied an article that said her father was no longer able to feed himself or recognise his family and spent his days confined to a hospital bed in a small room in his Los Angeles mansion.

"(M)y mother and I have been so protective of his condition since he became ill - almost a decade now - that it has allowed people to imagine he is still talking, still walking, still able to stumble into a moment of clarity," she wrote.

"But it would be a disservice to every family who has an Alzheimer's victim in their embrace to say any of that is true, and I don't believe my father would want us to lie."

Nancy Reagan, 82, who, like her husband of more than 50 years, is a former Hollywood star, has for years fiercely protected her husband's dignity, refusing to discuss the extent to which Alzheimer's has ravaged him.

People magazine quoted sources close to the family as saying that she spent most of her time by his bedside and that even their closest friends are barred from seeing him.

Reagan, the United States' 40th president and its longest-living leader, marked his 93rd birthday in February.

- AFP