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Well-known minister's health failing
GUIDO file
Michael Guido speaks with well-wishers at a civic club meeting in Statesboro in June 2007. - photo by Statesboro Herald photo
Dr. Michael Guido, renowned evangelist whose Metter-based ministry has reached international venues, remained hospitalized Friday in serious condition.
According to Lila Williams, spokesperson for Guido Gardens, Guido took a turn for the worse Friday morning after being admitted to Candler County Hospital.
In a letter sent by e-mail to friends of Dr. Guido, his brother Larry Guido said the popular evangelist became overwhelmed after "heavy demands he placed upon himself during the annual Nights of Lights."
Guido Gardens hosts a Christmas display of thousands of lights each year, and Guido, who will be 94 at the end of the month, is present every night, greeting visitors.
"Each night he would go to the chapel at 6 p.m. and remain there until the crowds stopped coming," Larry Guido said. "In fact, there was one evening when it was necessary to carry him to his golf cart."
The efforts were "too taxing for his heart, his pneumonia returned, and his heart became so weak that it could not function properly," he said. "Finally, it was necessary to admit him to the hospital where he is receiving care we could not provide at home. The major problem now is that his heart is so weakened that it cannot provide the necessary oxygen to combat the infection that has developed in his toes from his diabetes."
Williams said the ministry received word early Friday that Dr. Guido's condition was "deteriorating."
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