Jesse Jackson Jr. continues to battle depression and gastrointestinal issues at the Mayo Clinic.
His wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson told the Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed over the weekend that the congressman was "completely debilitated by depression," and that the family imposed a news blackout to protect the congressman's well-being.
That means, Jackson Jr. has yet to be informed that fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak has been arrested on 19 counts of fraud, Sandi told the paper.
“He doesn’t know anything about the indictment.”
The congressman’s collapse had been prefaced by a tough political schedule, scrutiny, scandal and balancing a family life.
“I was in Chicago, when Jesse — who was at home in Washington, D.C. — collapsed,” she said. “His father, Rev. Jackson, called him on the phone and felt he didn’t sound right.
“Jesse told his father he was so exhausted, he couldn’t take another step.
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“That’s when Rev. Jackson and Jesse’s brother, Yusef, took him to GW [George Washington] Hospital,” said Mrs. Jackson.
“His body was just worn out. I never really wanted him to have the gastric surgery in the first place. He called and told me not to worry, but it was obvious he was suffering from a form of depression.
“So Yusef took him at my suggestion to the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center in Arizona, where they specialize in mental health.”
Sandi Jackson said Jesse Jackson Jr.'s recovery is spotty -- "he has good days and bad days" -- and that doctors are experimenting with the appropriate cocktail of depression medication to help him.
She said she fully expects Jr. to return to work as a legislator once he's had time to recover.
Jackson Jr.'s father was asked about his son's possible return to work.
"There is no timetable attached to him overcoming such a challenge," Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. said Sunday. "But in time, he will."
