It as a sad weekend for the White House as in addition to Joe Biden’s son, Beau, dying we learned that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his right femur in a nasty cycling accident in Scionzier, France, early Sunday morning. The incident was confirm by a State Department spokesperson.
The femur is the large bone in the thigh, which is incredibly painful to break. Its also near the site of a previous hip surgery and so Kerry will return to Boston on Sunday for treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his doctor who did the prior surgery. Kerry is now back in the United States, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry will miss a planned state visit to Spain, and also miss a Paris counter-ISIS coalition meeting on Tuesday, though he will participate remotely.
The secretary is stable and is expected to make a full recovery, though it will likely take over six months given the severity of the injury.
“Secretary Kerry is in good spirits and is grateful to the French and Swiss authorities, doctors, and nurses who assisted him after the accident,” the spokesman said.
Kerry was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, for examination, after the accident occurred.
“Paramedics and a physician were on the scene with the Secretary’s motorcade at the time of the accident,” said the state department.
Kerry was in Geneva for negotiations with Iranian diplomats on Iran’s nuclear program and was cycling about 30 miles from the city, which is near France.
The secretary is an avid cyclist who frequently brings his bike with hi on trips, especially to Europe, which has some of the best cycling in the world due to its unique geography and old world roads.
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