WASHINGTON — The husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords delivered a moving tribute to his wife and to the power of faith Thursday during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, remarking on her steady improvement and urging the nation to keep her in its thoughts and prayers because “it’s helping.”
Mark Kelly, an astronaut and Navy captain, was invited to deliver the closing prayer for the annual event. Kelly said he was able to attend only because Giffords — who was shot in the head during a shooting rampage last month — continues to improve at a promising clip, although he did not offer specifics.
“Every day, she gets a little bit better,” he said. “The neurosurgeons and neurologists tell me that that’s a great sign. The slope of that curve is very important.”
Giffords, D-Ariz., was injured Jan. 8 when a gunman opened fire during a constituents event in Tucson. Six people were killed, and 13 others were wounded. Giffords, whose condition was upgraded from serious to good last week, is undergoing long-term rehabilitation at a hospital in Houston.
“I was telling Gabby just the other night, two nights ago, that, you know, maybe this event, this terrible event, maybe it was fate,” he said. “I hadn’t been a big believer in fate until recently. I thought the world just spins and the clock just ticks and things happen for no particular reason.”
He said he has come to believe, however, that things happen for a reason, “that maybe something good can come from all of this. Maybe it’s our responsibility, maybe it’s your responsibility, to see that something does.”
Doctors have not said whether Giffords can speak, although they say she is conscious and alert. They had inserted a tracheal tube that made it difficult to determine her speech abilities.
Late Thursday, NASA said Kelly will announce today whether he’ll fly on space shuttle Endeavour’s final voyage, The Associated Press reported. Kelly will take part in a news conference this afternoon at Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA said. The astronaut who has been substituting for Kelly during training, however, is not among the three participants, suggesting that Kelly has decided to fly in April.
