Mark Kelly, husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, appeared Tuesday night on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" to discuss the book that he and his wife wrote, "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope."
Speaking about the book, Stewart asked Kelly, "Is it therapeutic to write this after having gone through what you guys went through over the past year?" Kelly responded, "It is, it's sometimes hard though. You know we, especially on the weekends when I'd spend a lot of time with her going over it, it's hard to relive some of the stuff, some of the parts. We'd sometimes have to take a break from it, but I think the whole experience for both of us was generally pretty positive."
Stewart also brought up a "20/20" special that aired Monday night on ABC. The special, which includes an interview with Kelly and Giffords, also includes video footage documenting Giffords' recovery. Kelly explained why he decided to record his wife's recovery, telling Stewart, "without the video in the beginning, some people wouldn't realize what that whole journey would be like. We talk about it in the book, but it's something to see it. It wasn't planned, I just thought, you know, at the beginning of this that at some point she's gonna want to see it, never thinking that we might use it on TV."
Kelly's former career as an astronaut is also talked about in the interview, notably the fact that Kelly flew his final mission on the space shuttle Endeavour while Giffords was still recovering. Kelly explains why he decided to go on the mission:
"It was really hard, I wanted her to be more of a part of the decision when we made it, but she wasn't really able to express herself that well then, so I just kind of took a leap of faith. Now I do know her really well, and I knew one thing I wasn't gonna do is hear for the rest of my life, you know, 'how did you give that up because of what happened to me?' So she's very, you know, very happy with the decision we made."
Addressing Giffords' increasing ability to communicate as her recovery progresses, Kelly said that his wife is making "leaps and bounds every week." In fact, Giffords released a recorded message to her Arizona constituents on Tuesday in which she explained, "I'm getting stronger, I'm getting better." She also said in the message, "I want to get back to work."
When Kelly told Stewart that Giffords is a fan of "The Daily Show," Stewart responded, "you know what, I'm gonna have to do a better job. Now that I know important people are watching, I'm gonna have to try a little harder."
Regarding the possibility of Giffords returning to Congress, Kelly stated, "She's gonna make this decision on her own terms, you know, when she's ready to make the decision." He continued, "we'll just see what happens. But I, you know, I'm there to support her for now."