Riley to Leave Clinic Today, Return to O.C.

Former Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley is expected to be released today from a Minnesota hospital, more than a week after undergoing back and neck surgery to help him regain use of his legs.

Riley, 83, will be taken from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to a rehabilitation center in Newport Beach. He said during a telephone interview Tuesday that he needs therapy to strengthen his leg and back muscles, which have become weakened after weeks of being confined to a bed and a wheelchair.

“I’m weak, but I’m still hanging in there,” said Riley, a former Marine brigadier general who once commanded Camp Pendleton. “I know a lot of people have been concerned.

“They’re going to take the stitches out of me in the morning, and then kick me out of here,” he said.

Riley was taken to the Mayo Clinic after suffering severe pain caused by bone spurs and soft tissue pressing down on his spine, similar to the ailment that forced him into back surgery last year, officials said.

The compression left him unable to walk and he underwent five hours of back and neck surgery Oct. 30, clinic officials said.

Riley is expected to be taken by a private ambulance plane to John Wayne Airport, the same form of transportation he took to the Mayo Clinic. Riley said he is hiring private transportation at personal expense because he is confined to a bed and cannot travel on a commercial airline.

His wife, Emma Jane Riley, said she is pleased that her husband is doing well and will soon return home. The Rileys thanked friends and strangers who sent cards, letters, flowers and other well wishes flooding into the clinic.