AP News, June 13th, 2007
Eunice Kennedy Shriver is defying her doctors' predictions as she recovers from a series of strokes, said her son-in-law, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Shriver's family was told she would "never speak again" because of damage caused by the strokes, the governor said, but the 85-year-old Shriver has proven her doctors wrong, Schwarzenegger said Sunday.
"Of course, she prays every day and goes to church every day, and her prayers were answered, and she's speaking again fluently and is screaming at me again," Schwarzenegger said at a dinner honoring the Rev. Frederick Murph of Brookins Community AME Church in Los Angeles.
The church also honored Shriver _ the sister of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the mother of Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver _ for her work in founding the Special Olympics in 1968.
"Well, I will see Eunice very soon, and I'm going to give her this award," Schwarzenegger said. "And let me just tell you that she has been a great inspiration to me. I remember when I met her daughter Maria and we started dating, and I got to know her and the kind of determination that she has."
Doctors reported in October 2005 that Shriver was hospitalized for a minor stroke and a stress fracture in her hip.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger, Aaron McLear, would not discuss Shriver's condition.
"Obviously (the governor) is free to discuss what he is comfortable to discuss," McLear said Tuesday. "But the office has had a policy not to discuss family matters."
