Billy Graham suffers more intestinal bleeding

updated 7:02 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2007

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Evangelist Billy Graham experienced a second episode of intestinal bleeding but remained in fair condition Monday at a hospital near his home in the mountains of western North Carolina, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Graham, 88, was fully alert during the morning episode, said Merrell Gregory, a spokeswoman for Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville. Doctors are performing tests to find the source of the bleeding, she said.

Graham has been hospitalized since experiencing an initial bout of intestinal bleeding on Saturday.

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No date has been set for Graham’s release, but family members have said they hoped his hospital stay would be brief. On Sunday, he watched a televised worship service from First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, S.C., and visited with family and friends, hospital officials said.

The hospital has said the initial bleeding may have been caused by diverticuli, or small pouches that can form in the lower intestine. A diverticular bleed often begins suddenly and may stop on its own, the hospital said. Graham spokesman Larry Ross said the minister experienced similar intestinal bleeding during his 1995 crusade in Toronto.

Graham, who suffers from a variety of ailments including Parkinson’s disease and age-related macular degeneration, has been largely confined to his western North Carolina home in recent years.

His wife, Ruth Bell Graham, died in June following a following a lengthy illness.

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