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Gabrielle Giffords' Craniectomy; Tuscaloosa Devastated by Tornado; Winding Down the Shuttle Program; The Greatest Movie Ever Sold; Tornado Survival Stories; Continued Unrest Claims More Lives in Syria; Tying the Windsor Knot; Gabby Giffords's Road Trip

Aired April 29, 2011 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story this hour, the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour is now delayed. Endeavour's 25th flight into space was supposed to take off in just under two hours, but now it looks like it won't get off the ground for the next 72 hours at least. That means that the launch is now planned for Monday at 2:33 Eastern Time.

The delay was caused by a problem with one of the power units on Endeavour. The big orange fuel tank on the back of the shuttle will now be emptied so that the problem can be fixed.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, made the trip to Florida to watch the now-postponed shuttle launch. Her husband, Captain Mark Kelly, is Endeavour's commander.

On Wednesday, we saw the congresswoman climb the stairs to get on the plane to make her way to Florida. What many people don't realize is that she left Houston with part of her skull removed.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta breaks down the procedure for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, the operation Congresswoman Giffords had done is a pretty commonly performed one by neurosurgeons. It's called a craniectomy. Specifically, a hemicraniectomy, where you're removing almost half the skull one side of the brain here. Now, the reason you want to do this is to decrease the swelling from that primary injury.

What we heard about Congresswoman Giffords, she had a bullet wound that entered the front, over here, on the left side, and exited somewhere around here. Not much you can do about the bullet injury, but you want to try and decrease that swelling as quickly as possible, and you do it particularly with a series of drills. This one, first, where you're actually making holes in the skull, and then you take another drill over here where you're actually connecting the dots between all these various holes.

The goal is to try and get the bone off, again, while minimizing damage to the brain underneath, and take that bone off as quickly as possible. Now, with the brain, unlike other organs in the body, it really has no place to swell if it gets injured. The only place is really down here, and that's what's called a herniation, and that is what can be devastating neurologically, can even lead to death.

This bone, interestingly, actually gets stored, it gets saved. It gets put in the refrigerator to be put back in at a later time. Congresswoman Giffords will have the skin closed at that time of her operation, and because she will have a little concavity because of the lack of the bone, she may wearing a helmet until this bone is put back in place.

But even with this bone gone, someone can fly, they can move around. The risk of infection is pretty minimal. And once you get that bone back in, cosmetically, she should look pretty close to what she looked before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And Sanjay joins me now in studio.

The first thing I think a lot of people are wondering is, because she had this medical leave from her rehab, will she stay in Houston (sic)? Will she be able to stay for the next launch? I mean in Florida.

GUPTA: Well, my guess is -- stay in Florida. She may be going back to Houston for a couple of reasons.

She is considered an in-patient over there at the rehab center. Even though she's not getting what we call acute medical care, she's still considered an in-patient. And also, you know, this rehab is so important, to keep it going. You don't want to really miss days. So even though she can get this leave, she can even get some rehab while she's on the road, they probably want her back as much as possible.

So, she may come back, she may go to Florida again. That's likely what's going to happen.

KAYE: I remember when you and I were in Arizona in the days following the initial shooting. We had talked about how her skull was -- part of her head was actually collapsed inside. Where does it stand now? Is there something there? Is it still concave?

GUPTA: Well, what we understand is that -- and I brought this model that we were just looking at here. When you're actually removing part of the bone here, as a result -- this is just from a cosmetic standpoint -- you don't have that normal contour to the head, so you do get some concavity sort of on top.

It will be put back at some point. We hear it's not there yet. Either the bone itself that was removed or some sort of bone substitute will be put back sort of -- just put in with some plates across here, and again, the skin closed over that. Once that is done, it looks pretty cosmetically normal. It would be hard to tell that she ever had it performed in the first place.

KAYE: And so, these days, when we saw the video of her as she is making her way very slowly up the flight of stairs to the airplane, is she wearing a helmet? It was very hard to see from that grainy video.

GUPTA: Yes. It was hard to tell. And, yes, lot of times people will wear a helmet, mainly just to protect. You don't have the bone covering there, so it's basically to protect the underlying brain and the outer layers of the brain.

But just slowly using that right side is what I was looking for. You'll remember, Randi, a left-sided brain injury causes a couple of things. First of all, weakness, perhaps, on the other side of the body, so the right side of the body. And also an impact on speech.

But watching her go up those stairs is really important, not only from a functional standpoint, but rehab standpoint as well. It's part of getting that strength back, getting your balance back, you know, making it all work together.

KAYE: So which side of her body is stronger right now?

GUPTA: I think her left side is going to be stronger. Left-sided brain injury affects the right side of the body.

So we have heard that she is doing more with her left side, including learning how to write left-handed, we heard, because I am sure the handwriting was messy or difficult to decipher with the right hand, so you make it up things with the left hand.

KAYE: What do you think this means, the fact that she was able to go to Florida on this medical leave? Her husband, I remember, had said that when she found out that she was going, she said, "Awesome" and gave him the thumb's up.

GUPTA: Right.

KAYE: But what does this mean for her -- how well she's progressing? Does it say anything?

GUPTA: I think it does. I mean, we know that the final decision wasn't made until just a few days ago. So, even up until then, it's a constant assessment of the patient.

From a medical standpoint, things that you worry about, blood pressure, infection, things like that, it sounds like she is doing very well. But it's more a question of, is she going to get too tired, is she going to be functional enough to actually go and do something like this, walk up the steps of the plane, actually go to the launch, to have enough energy to go through all of those things?

That is a decision that's made by the doctors even just a few days ago. And it's a good sign that they said yes.

I do think though the rehab has to continue. So now with the shuttle launch, it's one of these tricky situations. We want the rehab to continue, but we want her to be able to see her husband going into space. So they're going to have to make some decisions there.

KAYE: How are the -- just quickly -- how are the communication skills going? Is she just able to use words, or can she string together a few words to actually make sentences?

GUPTA: Well, you know, when you think about communication, there is all sorts of different ways to do it. Part of it is speaking, part of it is gestures that you were alluding to earlier, writing, all that.

In terms of actually speaking, we hear it's mainly declarative one- word or multiword sort of phrases. So, you know, "Awesome" was her response when she heard that she could go to the launch. "I love you," we have heard she says. So she can put certain words together, but the spontaneity of speech, how well she can recall words, that's something that is still going to have to come.

KAYE: It's a really fascinating story. Her recovery is so remarkable, and so many people still care so much about her.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

KAYE: So we appreciate you coming on and talking about this.

GUPTA: You got it, Randi.

KAYE: And Dr. Gupta will actually be back later in the hour. We'll talk much more about this. He's been talking to Congresswoman Giffords' doctors, and one of them sits down and talks about the permanent damage that she may be facing.

And to hear even more details from the doctors, join Sanjay Sunday, May 8th, at 7:00 Eastern Time. You'll get revealing and exclusive details of the extraordinary efforts, minute by minute, that went into saving Gabby Giffords. That's CNN Sunday night, a special by Sanjay, May 8th, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Well, despite the shuttle delay, President Obama is still en route to Kennedy Space Center. He's do there any minute now after touring tornado-ravaged Tuscaloosa, Alabama, earlier today. He says it's some of the worst devastation that he has ever seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- tornado during the season, but this is something that I don't think anybody has seen before. In addition to keeping all the families who have been affected in our thoughts and prayers, obviously our biggest priority now is to help this community recover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is live in Tuscaloosa for us.

Reynolds, any word on the president's visit and how it was received there?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was received very warmly. I can tell you that the biggest thing I think the president may have gained by this is seeing this stuff, obviously, firsthand. I mean, video and reports only tell so much. When you actually see it there on the scene, it definitely makes a difference.

I can one thing that really makes a difference is not hearing it or seeing it from someone like me, but actually hearing it from someone who experienced it firsthand.

Greg Harris is with us. Greg is a student from the University of Alabama. He's originally from Kentucky.

Can you tell us about what you went through the day of the tornado?

GREG HARRIS, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA STUDENT: Sure. Sure.

I was on campus, and I heard that, obviously, a tornado is coming this way. So I went to the basement, a very sturdy building. And the sirens went off and they came over the P.A. system and said the tornado is on UA campus, hunker down, do what you can.

And so we did. And after 15 or 20 minutes after it left, I am concerned for my wife, my cats, my house, apartment complex. So I leave. The UA campus is not very damaged, so I didn't think that it hit very hard.

WOLF: Sure.

HARRIS: I came down the main drag here, and I started seeing some of this stuff, like the stuff you see behind you. So, I couldn't get any further in my car, so I got out of my car and I ran towards my apartment complex, running through where houses used to be. Pipes, burst, you smell gas all over the place.

You know, I was just terrified. But fortunate enough to see that my apartment complex was there.

A little bit of damage, some of the walls falling down. But compared to this, I'm just grateful that that's still there.

WOLF: Absolutely.

Did you lose any friends or family? Are you OK?

HARRIS: Didn't lose anybody. I'm still OK. Everybody is OK.

I told my family, you know, I'm OK, my wife is fine. I found that out pretty quickly.

The guy that lives in this house behind me here, he came with his dogs, you know, and he was speechless. He came to find me over at my apartment complex to see if I was alive, and then the rest of the night we spent trying to look for his wife, because he didn't know if his wife was dead or alive. And we didn't even find out that she was OK until the next day.

WOLF: Goodness. A miracle, to say the least.

And so many of them here in Tuscaloosa, Randi, just one compelling story after another. And it's certainly going to take some time for the community to get back together, but there's certainly hard work today, no question about it.

Back to you -- Randi.

KAYE: Reynolds, I have one quick question for you before we let you go. Are they still searching for the missing there?

WOLF: Unfortunately, they are, and I don't mean that in a negative way. But the thing that is bad about it is that we're going to transition from, say, a rescue mission to recovery missions. It's just one of the cruel things that happens during storms like this.

I know they found several people yesterday that unfortunately passed away. So we are going to see those numbers rise.

Again, over 200 that have lost their lives in the state of Alabama. Unfortunately, those numbers may rise over the next several days. But, yes, those recovery missions are going to continue. Hopefully -- hopefully there will be some rescue ones mixed in as well.

KAYE: All right. Reynolds Wolf, thank you, from Tuscaloosa for us.

And still to come, NASA's shuttle program is nearing its end. So how do two former astronauts feel about all of this? Well, we get to ask them live.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Here's something that may surprise you. Every year in the United States, an estimated 75,000 wheelchairs are simply thrown away, just tossed. But for people with disabilities in Mexico, wheelchairs are priceless. And that's where this week's CNN Hero comes in.

What makes him even more remarkable is what motivated him to help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ST. DENIS, CNN HERO: In Mexico, people with disabilities who can't get around have no options. Their world is the four walls of their house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's really hard for me to go very far with my crutches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It makes me really sad to see my son this way. He is 19.

ST. DENIS: When someone has a disability, the whole family has to pitch in to help them if they don't have the money. The care that they provide for them is the very basic care.

My name is Richard St. Denis. I take wheelchairs to people in Mexico who can't afford them but really need them.

In 1976, I broke my back skiing and severed by spinal cord. I see what happened to me as an opportunity to help other people with disabilities.

We collect used wheelchairs from the United States. To help us distribute the wheelchairs, a lot of people with disabilities work with us.

I think this chair we have for him might be perfect.

We make sure the wheelchairs meet the needs of the person who receives it.

A race car, no? A hotrod.

We teach them how to use it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SPEAKING SPANISH)

ST. DENIS: Yes. Muy bien.

Mobility means being independent and more active.

Someone said, "Richard, I want to thank you for giving up your legs so we could have a better quality of life."

When I see them happy, seeing their self-confidence, I know people's lives are getting better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Well, since 2008, Richard and his World Access Project have provided wheelchairs and other mobility aids to hundreds of people with disabilities in rurual Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We've been telling you that NASA has scrubbed today's launch of space shuttle Endeavour, delaying it until at least Monday afternoon. There are concerns about the shuttle's heating system. When it does lift off, it will be Endeavour's 25th and final mission as NASA winds down its shuttle program.

I'm joined now by a former astronaut, Captain Jerry Linenger. He's live in Minneapolis, with us today.

Tell me what you think, first of all, about what this means, that this program is going to go away.

CAPT. JERRY LINENGER, FMR. ASTRONAUT: Yes, it's a bittersweet moment, no doubt in my mind. You know, I don't mind the shuttle retiring. It is probably time to retire the shuttle.

We have modified it over the last 30 years. It's still the most remarkable flying machine ever built by mankind, but it's time to move on and go the next step.

And the disturbing part is, after the next launch, end of June here of Atlantis, that is our last shuttle launch, but we are not phasing in the next manned space vehicle, the Orion program. That's been put on delay.

KAYE: So what do you think this will mean though for the space program?

LINENGER: Well, I think we need to -- we learned a lot, first of all. And it's a remarkable vehicle, and we repair satellites, and we built an incredible International Space Station. But now we've moved to a point where we are dependent for probably the next five years on the Russians to get our people up to the International Space Station. With that last shuttle flight, we basically lose our capability to get man into space, and to me, that's a shame.

KAYE: It has though been responsible for so many breakthroughs and things that we use every day here on the ground, not up in space. So do you think that will all go away?

LINENGER: Well, I sure hope not. I think if we want to be the leader of the world and keep pushing technology, and create new jobs, and do all the things that we need to do as a great nation, I think we need our space program.

We do push technology. We bring the brain power of the world together to solve some very difficult problems, and it's still difficult.

You saw today, trying to launch Endeavour. They have an auxiliary power unit problem. It's still not easy going into space. And so I love it when you concentrate the brain power of the world on hard problems, because that's how you move mankind forward.

KAYE: All right. We're going to have to leave it there.

We want to get you now to Governor Haley Barbour, who is speaking in Smithville, Mississippi, where that F-5 tornado had roared through. So let's listen to what he has to say.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: Yes, let me just -- let me just say on behalf of Marsha and me, to the people of Smithville and the surrounding community, how much our hearts go out to you.

The lieutenant governor said to me a while ago that time and time again, in his four years as lieutenant governor, we have been places, and he's thought, man, this is as bad as it could get. I never thought I would see anything like this. I know I will never see anything like this again.

And to come into Smithville and see the devastation here, the utter obliteration that has happened to this town, is moving, eye-opening, and also makes us all committed to doing everything we can to be sure that this community comes back quickly and comes back as a new and better Smithville. And we are committed to that.

As far as the whole state is concerned, as of the middle of the day, we had 33 confirmed fatalities. Fourteen of them here in Monroe County. Of the 14 in Monroe County, 13 were here in Smithville. In this county, we still have a number of people who are unaccounted for. And we hope that they will be out of town, that they will have fled the storm. But we don't know. And that's why search and rescue continues here in this community, and in some other communities around the state.

This was an unprecedented outbreak of very large, powerful tornadoes. This is the tornado season for us in the Gulf South. However, Tuesday was unusual in the very large number. But, also, there were so many powerful tornadoes, and it seemed as if where we are accustomed to a big tornado striking and then playing itself out in most occasions, that many of these big supercells got stronger and stronger, and that's why most of the worst damage is on the eastern side of our state. And, of course, our neighbors in Alabama took a pounding that is even a good bit worse than what we have.

I am grateful to the federal government. The president called. More importantly, he sent the deputy director of FEMA to be with us today to -- I can't find where you are, Rich -- to try to expedite declarations and ways for us to gets assistance faster. And anybody here who has been in this town for more than five minutes understands that that is the right thing to do.

So, Rich, we appreciate you. We appreciate Craig Fugate, Secretary Napolitano, and President Obama for the federal government's efforts.

I am proud of the local officials here. The mayor, the supervisors, the sheriff, the first responders, they did an extremely good job beginning Tuesday afternoon.

The fact that we have not discovered any more fatalities -- we had one additional fatality, but that was someone who was found on Tuesday and taken to the hospital, and didn't survive. The fact that we haven't found more fatalities is a tribute to the real work that was done right at the first by these first responders.

However, we know that there is a tremendous amount of debris, and we know that there is some risk that the waterways that surround this area could possibly contain human remains. We'll continue to work to look for that. We will be praying for the best, but we are going to be preparing for the worst.

With that, let me stop and see if anybody has got any questions about --

KAYE: All right. You have been listening to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour there speaking from one of the hardest-hit communities, Smithville, Mississippi, where an F-5 tornado had gone through.

He said he had spoken to the president. FEMA is certainly reaching out and helping.

We will continue to keep an eye on Mississippi and on Alabama and all of the other southern states that have been hit so hard by these storms.

In the meantime, we'll take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Turning now to Britain and the wedding, the one that had many of you on pins and needles as you waited for it to happen. Kate and William, finally married in the pomp and circumstance that only the royals could really put on.

We'll bring you much more on that story in just a moment, but in the meantime, I want to ask you a question about the commercial break that we just saw.

How many commercials, how many advertisements do you think you were bombarded with during that break? How many do you think you see in a single day? Dozens, maybe hundreds?

We want to know, because it's probably a ton when you add in the television commercials, the billboards, of course, and the movies. Right?

Everything from the coffee cups that you see on, say, you know, "Morning Joe," that other network, on MSNBC, to strategically placed cars or props in movies, of course. But advertising, as you know, is everywhere, and it also happens to be the topic of a new documentary by award-winning director Morgan Spurlock.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN SPURLOCK, DIRECTOR, "THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD": What I want to do is to make a film all about product placement, marketing and advertising where the entire film is funded by product placement, marketing and advertising. So the movie will be called "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold." So what happens in "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" is that everything from top to bottom, from start to finish, is branded from beginning to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: You likely recognize Morgan from the documentary "Super Size Me" about what happens to your body when you eat McDonald's fast food every day for a month. The star and director of the new movie, "The Greatest Movie Ever sold," Morgan Spurlock, joins us live from our studios in New York City.

Morgan, great to have you with us. I watched the documentary.

SPURLOCK: Thank you.

KAYE: Certainly entertaining. But I have to ask, why in the world would you make a movie about something as hated as commercials?

SPURLOCK: Well, I think that what the film does is kind of shows us this world of advertising and marketing in a new way, where we get to pull back the curtain, actually see how the whole process works by getting these companies to actually pay for the movie that you're actually watching.

KAYE: Well, I got to tell you, one of my favorite parts of the movie was the town in Brazil -- I'm sure you recall this. They've passed a law...

SPURLOCK: Yes.

KAYE: ... making it illegal to put up advertisements in the city. And you're also pushing for this in Times Square, as I understand?

SPURLOCK: Well, I put together a project with my friends at the Barbarian (ph) Group. It's called No Ad New York because when I went to Sao Paulo, I couldn't believe that here was this place that was in the city limits, had abolished every bit of advertising. There's no posters. There's no billboards. There's no ads on taxis, bus stops, anything.

And so when I came back, we said, imagine what Times Square would even look like because you can't. I mean, it would be -- it would be impossible. So we put together No Ad New York, so it's NoAdNY.com, where you can go in, just start to kind of imagine what it would be by erasing the ads within Times Square, see what it would look like without any of this in our world. It's pretty amazing.

KAYE: That would be really nice, I got to say, because if you're bombarded with anything anywhere -- so this is what it might look like. I mean, it would be pretty cool without the ads or the billboards, the No Ad New York. Love it.

Also, I want to ask you about this -- the lovely town of Altoona, Pennsylvania, that has now been renamed...

SPURLOCK: Yes.

KAYE: ... The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Pennsylvania. How did you work that?

SPURLOCK: Yes. We flew there -- yes, we flew there on Wednesday. There I am at the dedication ceremony. We presented the mayor with a check for $25,000, and for the next 60 days, the town formerly known as Altoona will be Pom Wonderful Presents the Greatest Movie Ever Sold Pennsylvania.

KAYE: I'm glad you brought up Pom because I got to say, that movie, watching it, that made me just want to drink Pom because I remember specifically, in every interview you were doing...

SPURLOCK: See? It works.

KAYE: ... in the JetBlue terminal at JFK, you were drinking Pom in the interview.

SPURLOCK: That's right.

KAYE: But one of my favorite parts (INAUDIBLE) one of your other advertisers that you used was -- I think it was Ban, Ban deodorant, and...

SPURLOCK: Ban deodorant, yes.

KAYE: And when you...

SPURLOCK: And there's a great pitch with Ban.

KAYE: Tell me about the -- the placement of Ban when you were doing that Quentin Tarantino movie -- interview.

SPURLOCK: Well, you know, it's -- well, it was one of those where we wanted to offer, you know, Quentin Tarantino a stick of deodorant, and so we did, and it ended up on the table in front of him. And you know, as he's talking about product placement, he goes, I never notice it unless it's super-obvious. And when it's -- when it's -- when it's super-obvious, it becomes ridiculously obvious. And the camera pops back and there's just, like, this green Ban on the table. And I think the -- the film does a great job of exploring this world of product placement marketing and advertising in a way that's fun, that's exciting. I think you'll learn things in this movie you've never seen before. And I think it's -- I think people should go check it out. It's in theaters right now.

KAYE: And so was this whole thing paid for by the very advertisers that you went knocking on their doors?

SPURLOCK: Yes. We called over 600 companies to sponsor this movie. We got 22 to say yes. That's a success rate of 2.5 percent. That's how -- that's how strong it was.

(LAUGHTER)

SPURLOCK: And these people actually gave us money to make this film, to pull back the curtain and -- and I think the -- you know, and have a little fun with it. I think the movie makes these guys look incredibly smart in being a part of this. I think the marketing that this film reveals, the way that the whole machinations take place is pretty -- is pretty astounding.

KAYE: I know it actually is very funny, but do you think that in all seriousness, I mean, the fact that we're so saturated by the advertisements and by the commercials -- is there something unhealthy about that?

SPURLOCK: Well, I think that what's happened is we've just become desensitized to it, that we just, basically, look at this world as this is the way it's supposed to be. And when you see a place like Sao Paulo, where they said, Where do we draw the line, how much is too much -- I think this film also starts to ask that question. It's, like, where do we start to have that sacred place now where we can go where we're not advertised to, where we're not marketed to, because it seems like the minute you walk outside now, someone's trying to sell you something.

KAYE: Yes, we certainly do get the feeling of that. All right, Morgan Spurlock, thank you so much for coming in. Loved the movie, lot of fun to watch. And we wish you luck with it.

SPURLOCK: Thank you.

KAYE: And to get hooked up with Morgan Spurlock and his movie, "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," you can head to our blog, CNN.com/ali.

And our show continues right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The death toll has reached 298 people in six Southern states that were ravaged by a series of storms and tornadoes. In Tennessee, a path of destruction stretched for 200 miles, 34 people were killed. National correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Appeson (ph), a community east of Chattanooga. Susan, how bad is the damage there?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very bad. I'm going to show you some of the ravages of this twister. Here's one way to illustrate it. Look at these wooden planks. There's a series of them. It's almost as though they followed the path of the wind of that storm. Look how they're all pointed up the hill in this direction. Pretty scary. And here's what happened as a result of that particular twister because there were nine of them in the area.

This one, I'm going to have camera swing around. Ricky (ph), let's look up that hill. Just beyond those broken-down limbs, there is a Jeep Cherokee that is parked there. That's where a mobile home trailer was parked. The storm picked it up, blew it about the length of a football field all the way down here to where this car is now parked, thanks to the twister. It blew the mobile home to bits.

There were five people inside. Four of them continue to go over that hill. Unfortunately, they lost their lives. However, there was one survivor, an 8-year-old boy. They found him at the bottom of a line of trees down there, moaning. Some rescuers came by, air-lifted him to safety. They say that they will survive -- that he will survive. Randi, it's one of many stories here, and just from this one tiny neighborhood.

KAYE: We need more stories like that, Susan, I mean, when you hear about a survival story like that. Have you heard of any other survivors there?

CANDIOTTI: Yes. In fact, just around the corner here -- we're going to swing the camera around this way. You can see this kind of a yellow, pale yellow house. It's now at a 45-degree angle. Elderly couple was inside there. There was -- and the wife is handicapped. She is confined to a wheelchair. They couldn't move, even though they heard the warnings.

The twister came through. He said, I lunged on top of my wife. I held tight. There was nothing else we could do. The storm blew over, blew the house off its foundation. Miraculously, they have some minor bumps and bruises, but they came out of it all right. They had to pull her out of a chair out of the back there, but survived. Now, a house across the street -- I don't know if you kind of make out the blue tarp -- otherwise, it is standing. It just has some damage to the roof. But by comparison, it's practically untouched. And that's what you see time and again, of course, with these line of twisters that went through this region -- Randi.

KAYE: Well, Susan, I hope, as you spend the days ahead there covering the story, that you can bring us more survival stories. We could use more of those. Thank you, Susan Candiotti.

A day of rage, a day of death in Syria. After today's prayers, security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters trying to march into the southern city of Daraa. Witnesses say at least 16 people were killed, dozens wounded. The military cracked down on Daraa and imposed a blockade Monday.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in other Syrian cities demanding the ouster of President Bashar al Assad. Foreign journalists are barred from Syria.

CNN's Arwa Damon has been covering the unrest from the Jordanian- Syrian border and joins us by phone from Jordan's capital, Amman. Arwa, tell us about the protests and what you saw at the border.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Randi, what we do now know from this eyewitness at the hospital, that the death toll has gone up to at least 19 people killed, another 50 wounded, he said. Of those who were wounded, 13 of them were seriously wounded. The others, their families came to take them out of the hospital because they were afraid the Syrian security forces would be combing through the hospitals, looking for them.

Now, in this case, these were people who were from the villages surrounding Daraa. They were marching toward Daraa, a show of solidarity, when, they say, Syrian security forces opened fire on them indiscriminately. Inside Daraa itself, we continue to hear horror stories, people saying that they tried to demonstrate, a few hundred of them. Security forces opened fire, people telling us how snipers are still positioned on rooftops. People are unable, they say, to collect the bodies of the dead that are now bloating in the streets because they're scared they'll be shot by snipers if they try to do that.

But at the same time, Randi, we see these acts of defiance. We see these demonstrations in other parts of the country, demonstrations who were, according to eyewitnesses, by and large broken up with the use of lethal force by Syrian security forces. But the opposition here still determined to go out and risk their own lives to bring about change.

At the border itself, we met, in fact, a number of people who were from Daraa. There was a small demonstration happening there, the Jordanians on this side of the border wanting to express their solidarity with the people of Daraa, a lot of trade and family ties between these two cities across the border. But one woman who we met, she collapsed to the ground. We met her in the morning. She was with her son. And she was begging them to let her just walk across the border because, she said, her daughter lives in Daraa. She hadn't heard from her for days, Randi. Naturally, she was beyond herself with anguish.

KAYE: All right. Arwa Damon reporting for us from Jordanian border there with Syria. Arwa, thank you.

We're going to continue to follow developments with the tornadoes and the shuttle, but the other big story today -- the wedding the world watched and swooned over has ended. It's finally over. For Kate and William, the pomp and circumstance, though, is just beginning. A live report from London coming up next.

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KAYE: Turning now to Britain and the wedding, the one that had many of you on pins and needles as you waited for it to happen. Kate and William finally married in the pomp and circumstance that only the British could pull off. CNN's Zain Verjee mingled with the tens of thousands who gathered in London for today's royal wedding, and she joins us from our studio there. Zain, I'm sure you met a whole lot of new friends today on the streets. What was it like?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I sure did. I mingled with a lot of people here out on the streets. I would have liked to have mingled with everyone inside Westminster Abbey, come to think of it, but alas, I wasn't invited, Randi.

It was an amazing experience, though, to be outside. You know, people were so excited. They were energized by seeing the fresh faces of a new bride and a new groom. Everyone was wondering, What about the dress, which, by the way, was kept a total secret until we actually saw it. And you know, that's a pretty an amazing thing, given how information sort of flies around so easily these days.

She looked spectacular. The vows were absolutely beautiful inside Westminster Abbey. Everybody was amazed and thrilled to see them come by in the 1902 state landau, otherwise known as the carriage that Princess Diana also used when she was married. So all in all, it was a great day for this country and a real boost for the monarchy that's suddenly become younger, more glamorous and popular -- Randi?

KAYE: And what was the reaction, I'm curious, when William actually kissed Kate from the balcony?

VERJEE: It was an awesome reaction. The crowd cheered. They kissed once, and then, oh, my goodness, they kissed again! We got to see it twice, and that was something that was unprecedented. People were chanting "Kiss again!" And they did.

By the way, Randi, we are actually waiting for a party to get started, a very exclusive reception here at Buckingham Palace. The crowds are still out on the streets. They're still all lined up. They're waiting for the bride and groom to make their way from Clarence House, which is where they are now -- and it takes 10 minutes or so to come here to Buckingham Palace. The queen, we understand, has left. The party shoes are in the closet, and she's going to leave it to the young folk here tonight.

KAYE: She's probably exhausted. At 85 years old, I don't blame her, either. But Zain, what's this I hear about people making bets? Bets on what?

VERJEE: Yes. You know, the bookies were taking a lot of different bets over the past few weeks. And they were doing things like, you know, Will she wear a tiara? Will she cry? Will Harry forget the ring? That was one that people were betting on a lot, as well as her dress. Would it be white? Would it be ivory, you know?

And so today, they're going to be paying out a lot of money on some of those things. So that was just something that people were talking about today.

KAYE: I'm sure there was a lot of talk about a lot of things.

VERJEE: Randi, the cheers are going up here.

KAYE: Oh, so they must be on their way.

VERJEE: Everyone's -- you know, we're expecting William and -- yes, right. They're probably -- they're going to arrive here any time. The flags are still waving. People are still excited, just as energized as they were this morning.

KAYE: I think they're overtired.

VERJEE: They are expected here any minute at the palace.

KAYE: All right, Zain Verjee, enjoy the moment for all of us. Enjoy it.

VERJEE: I will.

KAYE: Thank you so much. Great to chat with you.

VERJEE: Thank you.

KAYE: Well, if you missed any of the special moments from the morning's historic wedding, you can capture them in a special edition of "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT." Piers will show you the biggest moments of the day and some of the best moments today. That's tonight, Piers Morgan at a special time, 8:00 o'clock Eastern.

Well, we're keeping one eye on the royals and the other on Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been talking to her doctors, and they gave him an update on her condition, as well as the long-term effects of her devastating brain injury. Dr. Gupta will bring that to us right after the break.

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KAYE: We've been reporting that today's planned launch of the space shuttle Endeavour has been delayed until at least Monday. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who's still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, made the trip to Florida to watch the now postponed shuttle launch. Her husband, Navy captain Mark Kelly, is Endeavour's commander. Well, on Wednesday, we saw the congresswoman climb the stairs to get on the plane to fly to Florida.

And Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been covering her story, her rehabilitation, really just immediately after the shooting and the days and weeks and months. I know you have a big special that you're working on, but I want to ask you, what will this mean for her now that this has been delayed? Will she be able to stay in Florida or will she have to go back?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think there's a bunch of factors at work here. But from a medical standpoint, she's not getting acute medical care in the hospital anymore, so she is considered an inpatient at a rehab hospital, so I think they'd like her back there for a few different reasons. One of them being that, you know, rehab is an important to be doing every day, which is why she's, you know, been in this particular facility. So I think that they don't want to delay that. So it's possible, given, you know, how long this launch may be delayed, you know, sort of balancing that, she may go back and then come back again to Florida.

KAYE: What kind of rehab is she actually getting?

GUPTA: It's really fascinating. I spent a day sort of going through the exact rehab that she's getting, and even though, you know, I send patients to rehab all the time, some of it to see firsthand was fascinating. I mean, everything from, for example, learning to write with her left hand because the right side of her body was more affected by this in terms of her strength. Music therapy -- if I ask you to sing a song that you're familiar with, it requires a lot of things of you, remembering the words, putting them together in an actual tune, and being able to actually sing, shows a lot of -- demonstrates a lot of speech skills.

You know, actually learning to walk again, using a grocery cart, for example, making you stand upright, using these machines that sort of take away your body weight so you can learn how to sort of move your -- your legs again. So it's everything from the actual functional activity to the coordinating of a lot of these activities together.

KAYE: And do her doctors think that she's progressing at a really good rate? I mean, is there a time where we might see her actually go home for care?

GUPTA: I think so. And you know, I mean, doctors, I think, are hesitant to use the word "remarkable" or "miraculous," but I think, you know, given that 5 to 10 percent of people survive gunshot wounds in the first place, the fact that she not only survived but has been responsive all along and has always has made improvements -- she hasn't had days where she's gone backwards or started to plateau yet. So I think that that's what they're really focused on.

KAYE: It is amazing. I mean, I'm sure you're amazed, too, to see (INAUDIBLE) GUPTA: Yes, I think -- I think of this as a real teaching moment, to see how someone can -- can recover from something like this.

KAYE: Well, I'm looking forward to your special.

GUPTA: Thank you.

KAYE: This is certainly a story that a lot of people are interested in. So thank you for that.

GUPTA: Sure.

KAYE: And for more on the congresswoman's progress, you can join Dr. Sanjay Gupta as he meets the paramedics, the doctors credited with saving her life, hear the revealing and exclusive details of the extraordinary efforts minute-by-minute that went into saving Gabby Giffords. "SANJAY GUPTA REPORTS" -- that's CNN Sunday night, May 8th, at 7:00 PM Eastern. You'll want to tune in for that one.

And I'll be right back with my "XYZ."

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KAYE: Time now for my "XYZ," and I have a confession to make. I must admit, watching the royal wedding at 6:00 AM Eastern time this morning, I did tear up. I never expected to. Like many of you, I was getting a bit tired of the royal wedding. But then it hit me. There they were at the altar, Prince William in his bright red uniform and Catherine Middleton in that beautiful dress and a tiara on loan from the queen. Before I knew it, I was filled with emotion.

Maybe it's because I eloped. I certainly didn't have 1,900 guests and millions around the world watching me take my vows. But this was something special, royalty or not, two young people clearly in love. They've been together nine years, and I thought it showed. Did you see what William did when his bride reached the altar? He winked at her and then told her, quote, "You look beautiful." That, I think, is where I really lost it.

I mean, I've been talking about the royal wedding here on CNN for months, never thought it would affect me. But I know must admit, it did. And there were the kisses on the balcony, not one but two. The prince blushed so much, he was as red as his uniform. So touching, didn't you think? Well, if you weren't moved, then the good news for you is, the royal wedding is finally over.

CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.