Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), who has been down for the count for over a month following a serious gallbladder infection, has returned home from a rehabilitation facility, another piece of good news after the congressman was released from the hospital last week.
According to Norcross’s office, the congressman will continue outpatient rehabilitation in the coming weeks, and doctors will also be removing his gallbladder. There’s still no concrete timeline on when Norcross will be able to return to Washington, but his office said that he is “engaging in various meetings” in South Jersey and remains in close contact with his staff.
“It is good to be home,” Norcross said in a statement – the first attributed directly to him, rather than to his office or his doctors, since his medical difficulties began.
“I owe a debt of immense gratitude to the incredible health professionals at Cooper Hospital who saved my life and have been instrumental in helping me recover so quickly,” he continued. “I want to sincerely thank the incredible South Jersey community for the outpouring of prayers, cards, calls and well wishes. Be assured that I will continue to fight for our seniors, veterans and hard working families each and every day.”
Norcross was first hospitalized the weekend of April 5, initially at a hospital in North Carolina where his flight had been diverted before he was transferred to Cooper University Hospital in South Jersey. Norcross’s doctors later said he had developed an infection called cholangitis that progressed to sepsis, threatening his life.
Since then, the congressman has progressed slowly along the road to recovery, including a weeks-long stay in intensive care, finally making it out of the hospital on May 1. His office said today that his recovery “has been going incredibly smoothly and his ‘Jersey fight’ is on full display.”
Due to his hospitalization, Norcross has been unable to conduct in-person business in Washington since early April, including missing critical votes on a Republican budget proposal that narrowly passed the House. Republicans are now negotiating their enormous tax and spending policy bill for 2025, but their expedited timeline for passing it has begun to fall apart – potentially giving Norcross more time to recover and return to Washington before the House votes.