Astronaut Mark Kelly: 'We Need to Learn to Work Together as a Nation'

Astronaut Mark Kelly spoke to Diane Sawyer, on a special episode of ABC's "20/20," about his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically injured by a gunshot wound to the head. The rampage in Tucson on Jan. 8 left six dead. It was a conversation that helped us learn more about the Jewish congresswoman and her Irish-Catholic husband.

The couple, who normally don't see each other every day but who spend a lot of time talking to each other on the phone, are deeply in love. Says one family friend, Kelly and Giffords are in "a perpetual state of newlywed."

Kelly has slept in the hospital with his wife ever since she arrived. From the erroneous initial reports that Giffords had been killed to Giffords' situation today, Kelly, and the rest of the nation, has high hopes that Giffords will pull out of the horrible ordeal.

Giffords has made progress. For example, she opened her eyes for the first time, a fact that President Barack Obama shared in his memorial service for the Tucson shooting victims. In addition, Giffords will play with Kelly's wedding ring. It is an action that she often does when she is with Kelly. She even gave Kelly a 10-minute neck massage, typical of Giffords' character of worrying about others even when she is in distress. They are all signs that Giffords is responding well and improving every day.

We learn that Mark Kelly is doing what he can to stay strong for his wife, but even the tough astronaut dealt with it hard in the beginning. "Nothing prepares you for something like this," said Kelly. Fewer than 10 percent of people shot in the head survive. But Kelly says he is an optimistic person, and Giffords is a fighter.

"Gabrielle Giffords is too tough to let this beat her," said Kelly.

Even though reports are saying that Giffords is coming along fine, there is concern for Giffords' Broca's area and Wernicke's area of her brain. She isn't speaking, but she is thinking, say the doctors. We don't know if Giffords will return the same way she was. It happened for Bob Woodruff. The left side of his brain was severely damaged by a roadside bomb in Iraq. However, after being in a coma for a month, he recovered and is back to his work as a journalist for ABC.

There's a surprising detail about Giffords not covered before. Giffords had a fear that she would be shot at one of her functions. Yet, we learned that she is a brave woman. Despite the anger thrown at her by those who opposed her views on health care, Kelly said Giffords loves everyone in her district. When a person was exceptionally rude to Giffords, Kelly said Giffords responded: "I represent that person too, and I'm going to do the best I can for that."

In addition, another surprising detail emerged from Sawyer's interview with Kelly. Giffords was instrumental in getting a first rate trauma center for the hospital in Tuscon. Kelly says that if that hadn't happened, Giffords would not have survived.

But how does Kelly feel about the shooter, Jared Loughner, and Loughner's parents? Some may be surprised to learn that Kelly would meet with the shooter's parents if they asked. "I don't think it's their fault," said Kelly. However, we are not surprised to learn that he wants nothing to do with the shooter. "It would be a waste of my time," said Kelly.

The unfortunate event is an opportunity to tone down the heated rhetoric, and astronaut Mark Kelly is in favor of doing just that.

"Just to see our planet as this big blue marble floating in the blackness of space. You know there aren't borders between nations. And that's the only place we have," said Kelly. "We need to learn to work together as a nation and as a community. We've got nowhere else to go."

Source:

"20/20" interview with Mark Kelly on ABC on January 18, 2011