Rick Santorum's daughter Bella is recovering quickly and could be released from the hospital as soon as Monday, according to Santorum's presidential campaign.
The three-year-old's release would be dependent on an OK from her doctors, Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley told several media outlets.
Gidley said on MSNBC Monday that Santorum's family is hoping they can take Bella home from the hospital later in the day.
"The family is just overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and prayers that they've received over the past few days but I can report that Bella is doing extremely well. She's on the road to recovery," he said. "In fact, the family hopes to take her home a little bit later on today if she gets the all clear from the doctors."
Bella was hospitalized on Friday and the former Pennsylvania senator suspended his campaign events on Monday to be with his daughter. She suffers from Trisomy 18, a rare chromosomal disease with a high fatality rate in young children. Bella has been to the hospital twice over the last three months, although the Santorum family declined to name the reasons for this most recent hospitalization.
Mitt Romney's campaign on Monday pulled a Santorum attack ad airing in a number of Pennsylvania cities "in deference" to Santorum's daughter being in the hospital, his campaign said. The Romney campaign replaced the ad with a positive one called "Conservative Record."
Speaking on MSNBC Monday morning, Gidley stressed the importance of the upcoming April 24 Pennsylvania primary for the Santorum campaign.
"Pennsylvania is going to be a huge, pivotal state in the primary," Gidley said.
The Santorum campaign has said the Pennsylvania — Santorum's home state — and Texas primaries are a top priority for the campaign.
The campaign has been urging Texas to become a winner-take-all state instead of one that divvies out its delegates proportionally. Santorum trails Romney in the delegate count and the winner-take-all push is seen as an attempt by Santorum's campaign to capitalize as much as possible on a Texas victory — if the campaign can pull it off.
"We're trying to go there and show Texas can be relevant again," Gidley continued. "They could become more pivotal if they become winner take all by a simple majority."
Texas's primary is May 29.
— This story was updated at 12:16 p.m.
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