Relative: Obama's Grandma Has Broken Hip

Barack Obama's 85-year-old grandmother broke her hip recently and is "gravely ill," her brother said Tuesday.

Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped to raise Obama, "has not been well for a long time. Then she fell and broke her hip fairly recently," Charles Payne said in a telephone interview from his home in Chicago. "She's unhappy with the condition that she's in, I can tell you that."

Payne, who is Obama's great-uncle, said his sister was hospitalized briefly but is back home in her Honolulu apartment, where Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, cares for her. Obama plans to suspend campaigning later this week to visit his grandmother, and Payne is planning to fly there for her 86th birthday, which is Sunday.

Payne, 83, said he spoke to his sister briefly on Monday.

"We had a short and as upbeat as possible conversation," said Payne, a retired university library administrator. "She hated the hospital."

Payne did not know which hip she broke. He said she had previously had a hip replacement, but he could not recall on which side.

Payne said the two talked about family matters, but he declined to elaborate. He said they did not discuss the Illinois senator's campaign.

Payne declined to speculate on whether his sister had the strength to see her grandson through the election on Nov. 4.

"I think, of course, it's been terribly important to her," he said. "And she would like nothing better than to see that."

On Monday night, Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama would take a break from the campaign trail on Thursday. Events originally planned for Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday will be replaced by one in Indianapolis before he makes the long flight to Hawaii. On Friday, Obama's wife, Michelle, will sub for Obama at rallies in Akron and Columbus, in Ohio, said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Obama was expected to resume campaigning on Saturday, at an undecided location in the West, she said.

"Senator Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life, along with his mother and his grandfather," Gibbs said. "Recently his grandmother has become ill and in the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious. It is for that reason that Sen. Obama has decided to change his schedule on Thursday and Friday so that he can see her and spend some time with her."

Citing the family's desire for privacy, Gibbs would not discuss the nature of Dunham's illness. It seemed likely that she was close to death, as Gibbs said that "everyone understands the decision that Sen. Obama is making."

"It's not preferable for a campaign to have their candidate off the trail even for a short period of time in the final days of a race," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "But voters will certainly understand, even appreciate, Obama's decision and it should have little to no impact on the campaign itself."

In a campaign ad this year, Obama described his Dunham as the daughter of a Midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland" - things like "accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated."

She's also the "white grandmother" he referred to in a speech on race.

Earlier this year, Obama talked to CBS News anchor Katie Couric about her.

"She's been the rock of my family. She worked very hard all her life, and made a lot of sacrifices on my behalf."

Obama also recognized Dunham when he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver.

"She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well," he said.

Obama last visited Hawaii in August, when he spent a week on vacation after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.