Reid's wife undergoes neck surgery after wreck

(News Terupdate) - The wife of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid underwent neck surgery Friday after being injured with their daughter in a four-vehicle wreck in suburban Washington a day earlier, her surgeon said.

Since the surgery, Landra Reid, 69, has been able "to get out of bed, her pain is well-controlled and she's able to swallow some," said Dr. Elizabeth Franco of Inova Fairfax Hospital.

She can move her arms and legs, but is expected to go through physical therapy before being released in a few days, Franco said.

Reid's wife broke her neck, a vertebra in her lower back and her nose, the doctor said.

The couple's adult daughter, Lana Reid Barringer of McLean, Virginia, suffered a neck injury and facial lacerations, the senator's spokesman, Jon Summers, said Thursday. Lana Reid was released from the hospital Thursday night.

The wreck occurred in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Fairfax County at 1:10 p.m., when the 2005 Honda Odyssey driven by the daughter began braking in stop-and-go traffic and was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer, according to a Virginia State Police report.

"The impact forced the Honda Odyssey to rear-end the vehicle in front of it, a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee," it says. "The Jeep Grand Cherokee was then forced into the next lane over where it struck a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt."

The drivers of the Jeep and the Chevrolet also were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The driver of the truck, Allan W. Snader, 59, of Ohio, was charged with reckless driving, the police report said. He was not injured in the crash. The tractor-trailer was carrying rolls of plastic.

The 70-year-old senator visited his wife and daughter shortly after hearing of the accident at 2:15 p.m., then returned to his office in the Capitol to work on health care legislation, said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

He was back at the hospital later in the afternoon and stayed until midnight, then returned early Friday to be there for his wife's surgery, Summers said.

Summers told reporters Landra Reid's recovery is the senator's top priority, but "his plans have not changed at all" in Congress.

"Landra and I have been married for 50 years -- she is the love of my life," Reid said in a statement read by Summers at a news conference. "And I look forward to her making a quick recovery as soon as possible."

Reid met his wife at Basic High School in Henderson, Nevada, during the mid-1950s. They married in 1959 and had their first child, Lana, two years later. Three boys followed. The couple has 16 grandchildren.

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