Cheney, 71, who served as vice president in the George W. Bush administration, has had a long history of heart trouble.
He had his first heart attack in 1978 when he was just 37.
After his fourth heart attack in 2000 he had a defibrillator implanted in his chest. Despite the huge daily pressures on him, he didn't have another heart scare in the eight years he was in the White House, but afterwards, at Christmas 2009, just as he was backing his car out of the garage, "everything went blank" as he suffered his fifth heart attack.
The defibrillator saved his life. Afterwards he also had fitted a battery – operated pump to help his heart. It allowed him to live an active life hunting, fishing, travelling and playing with his grandchildren.
Discussing how he was considering a full – scale heart transplant, he told the Telegraph last September: "I'm very lucky to be alive." » | Adam Lusher | Sunday, March 25, 2012
