Teresa Heinz Kerry makes first public appearance since July

WASHINGTON Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Secretary of State John Kerry, made her first public appearance since suffering a seizure in July.

Heinz Kerry was seated in the row behind her husband as he testified Tuesday at a Senate hearing on Syria. The secretary of state and the chairman of the committee, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, both commented on her presence.

"This is her first public event since early July. So, we are all happy she's here," John Kerry said after thanking Menendez for welcoming her.

The 74-year-old Heinz Kerry suffered a seizure at the couple's Nantucket, Mass., home July 7. She was treated at a Nantucket hospital and another in Boston before being released three weeks later.

While doctors concluded she suffered a seizure, they have ruled out several possible triggers for the seizure-like symptoms including heart attack, stroke, or a brain tumor, spokesman Glen Johnson said in July.

Heinz Kerry, an heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, is the widow of former Sen. John Heinz, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 1991. She married Kerry, a former Massachusetts senator, in 1995.