Bob Bennett, a Republican who represented Utah in the U.S. Senate for three terms before losing re-election in 2010, suffered a stroke last week and is now in hospice care at his home in Arlington, Va.
The April 11 stroke paralyzed the left side of his body, according to his son, Jim Bennett. In addition, he said, the pancreatic cancer his father has been battling has spread.
"This has made things a lot more difficult," Jim Bennett said Friday.
Bob Bennett's six children have all visited their father, who was released from the hospital Tuesday, and three are still at their parents' home.
"His mind is alert and sharp," Jim Bennett said. "We're just enjoying this time with him."
The former senator, 82, said in February 2015 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and wrote on Facebook at the time that his tumor was not operable. Bennett and his wife, Joyce, had planned to move back to Utah, Jim Bennett said, but his parents have stayed while his father gets treatment at Johns Hopkins University.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Former Utah Senator Bob Bennett speaks at the The Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah Wednesday Jan. 27 as he is inducted into the Hinckley Hall of Fame. He is still passionate about education, business and government service.
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