US presidential hopeful Sanders seeks to shrug off heart attack
15 October 2019 AFP, Washington
US Senator Bernie Sanders may be 78 and recovering from a heart attack, but he is determined to prove he has lost none of his appetite for political battle ahead of elections next year.
The pugnacious left-winger is seeking to put his campaign for the Democratic nomination back on track after earlier suggesting that he would have to slow down his schedule due to his health scare.
"There's nobody who has run a more vigorous campaign," Sanders told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
"We're talking about three or four rallies a day and town meetings… I think after a short period of time, we'll probably be able to return to that."
Sanders, who is polling third behind Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren in the race to take on President Donald Trump in 2020, is renowned for his rigorous work ethic and reluctance to discuss personal matters.
But he offered a rare insight into how he felt before and during the heart attack - which he brushed off as a minor issue.
"Heart attack is a scary word," he said. "What I had was a 45-50 minute procedure, two stents were placed in my heart, which had a blocked artery.
"It's a fairly common procedure, and people are back on their feet pretty soon, as is the case with me.
"I was more fatigued, despite a heavy schedule, than I should have been. I wasn't sleeping as well as I should have been.
"Occasionally, I was a little bit wobbly. And I should have put two and two together, and I didn't."
