Rev. Jesse Jackson remains hospitalized after receiving care to stabilize his blood pressure, sources say

By Abby Phillip, CNN

(CNN) — Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson remains hospitalized and has been receiving care to manage his blood pressure, sources close to Jackson’s family told CNN on Sunday.

In a statement released late Sunday afternoon, the family said he is breathing on his own without the assistance of machines and not on life support. A separate source added that earlier he had been receiving medication to raise his blood pressure, which is a form of life support.

In the last 24 hours, Jackson’s condition has improved and he has been able to maintain a stable blood pressure without the assistance of medication.

Jackson, 84, a protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said Wednesday evening.

Further details about his condition have not been released.

The family source says Jackson has had brief moments of energy due to a medication he has been on for two days. Jackson had a significant drop in blood pressure Saturday night, but a medical team responded to him immediately, the source added.

Even while under treatment, he has shown brief but meaningful signs of responsiveness, the source said.

In the Sunday afternoon statement, his son Yusef said: “In fact, today he called for 2,000 churches to prepare 2,000 baskets of food to prevent malnutrition during the holiday season.”

Last week, there had been “significant improvement” in the civil rights leader’s condition under medical care, his son Jesse Jackson Jr. said Thursday in a segment during his weekday radio show.

PSP is “a rare neurological disorder that affects body movements, walking and balance, and eye movements,” according to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

The disease typically begins in a person’s 60s and has some symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, it adds. Most people with PSP develop severe disability within three to five years.

Jackson “has been managing this neurodegenerative condition for more than a decade,” the organization previously said in a statement. “He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April his PSP condition was confirmed.”

Jackson rose to national prominence in the 1960s as a close aide to King. After King’s assassination in 1968, Jackson became one of the most transformative civil rights leaders in America.

In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH as a way to improve Black communities’ economic conditions across the US. Jackson later launched the National Rainbow Coalition, in 1984, with the goal of obtaining equal rights for all Americans, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Twelve years later, the two organizations merged to form Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

One of Jackson’s signature phrases has been “Keep hope alive,” and was a force for social justice over three eras: the Jim Crow period, the civil rights era and the post-civil rights era, culminating with the election of Barack Obama and the Black Lives Matter movement.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Amanda Musa contributed to this report.

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