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, which also featured President Obama.
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, though 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 constituent event in Tucson. Six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, 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, where Kelly lives and works.
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"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, though they say she is conscious and alert. They had inserted a tracheal tube that made it difficult to determine her speech abilities. They said it would probably be removed this week or in coming weeks. They also have said they will not make as many disclosures about her condition during her lengthy rehabilitation as they did during the first few weeks after the shooting.
On Thursday, Kelly made reference to his three trips to space and the humbling feeling of looking out on "the Earth as God created it in the context of God's vast universe."
He described a realization that struck him one day as he gazed on a makeshift memorial that had sprung up in front of University Medical Center in Tucson, where Giffords was initially taken for treatment.
"That reminded me that you don't need a church, a temple or a mosque to pray," he said. "You don't even need a building or walls or even an altar. You pray where you are. You pray when God is there in your heart. And prayer isn't just asking. It's also listening for answers and expressing gratitude, which I've done a lot lately."
