Dick Cheney Recovering After Heart Transplant Surgery

The office of Dick Cheney has informed the Associated Press that the former vice president is recovering after a heart transplant surgery Saturday.

CBS News reports that the statement said Cheney had been on the transplant list for 20 months and is now recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, outside of Washington. Cheney did not know the identity of the donor, but the statement read "Although the former Vice President and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift."

MSNBC reports that in 2010, Cheney had a left ventricular assist device implanted for treatment of end-stage heart failure.

Update (7:22 p.m.)

AP notes that Cheney suffered a heart attack in 2010, his fifth since the age of 37. He had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two subsequent angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries. In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest.