By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

DETROIT (Oct. 21, 2008) – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has decided to cancel most of his campaign events later this week to fly to Hawaii to visit his ailing 85-year old grandmother.

Obama’s communication director, Robert Gibbs, told reporters on Monday that Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, is gravely ill and that the senator will be taking time off for his campaign to spend time with her.

Dunham, who helped raise him, was released from the hospital late last week, but there have been reports that her health has deteriorated “to the point where her situation is very serious.”

Michelle Obama will pinch hit for the senator at rallies in Akron and Columbus, Ohio.  Folks originally planned for Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday will be replaced with one in Indianapolis before he makes the long flight to Hawaii.

Gibb’s told reporters, “Sen. Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life, along with his mother and his grandfather.”

“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,” Gibbs said. That’s why Obama decided to change his schedule on Thursday and Friday so that he could be with his grandmother. 

The campaign declined to discuss the nature of Dunham’s illness, citing the family’s desire for privacy, and Gibbs would not discuss the nature of Dunham’s illness.

Throughout Obama’s campaign, he has referenced his grandparents and highlighted his grandmother’s influence.  Obama described his grandmother 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.”