Kathie Lee Gifford is recovering after a fall down the stairs at her Tennessee home that broke her pelvis in two places — and she’s crediting “hundreds of thousands of people” who prayed for her.
The broadcasting legend, 70, was invited to the Today show on Tuesday, August 13, where she gave an update on her health.
On July 30, PEOPLE exclusively reported that Gifford spent a week in the hospital following the fall. At the time, she was recovering from painful hip replacement surgery, but slipped down the stairs of her four-story apartment while running to help a friend who was locked outside in 100-degree heat.
“I was just going too fast in stupid shoes and I fell,” Hoda told Kotb, Craig Melvin, Al Roker and Sheinelle Jones on Today.
But nearly two weeks after she returned home, Gifford noticed her pain was gone — something that surprised her since she cracked both the front and back of her pelvis.
“I was on my little farm here, walking around [with] walker,” Gifford explained. “But I realized I wasn’t in any pain. … it didn’t hurt at all. And I stopped taking pain meds, I stopped all that stuff!”
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After calling her doctor, Gifford was told to come in for another X-ray on August 8. When she was shown the results moments later, even her doctor was surprised.
“He came in with my X-ray and said, ‘Look at this Kathie. You want to see your X-ray?’ And I say, ‘That’s my X-ray?’ He says, ‘Yes, you’re completely healed,'” Gifford recalled.
“And he’s an amazing man of God, yes, but he doesn’t see that very often!” she continued. “He said, ‘You are cured. It’s a miracle. Now you can have a glass of wine if you want.’ ”
Kathie Lee Gifford in April 2024.
Danielle Del Valle/Getty
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She then thanked the support she received from fans, many of whom reached out to her.
“You have to give credit and glory; credit to all the prayers,” Gifford said. “I sob when I think of the people who turned to me and said ‘I wish you a speedy recovery!’ That’s about as fast as you can go!”
“If people are out there, looking for hope, waiting for your miracles, keep hoping, people,” she said. “God hears your prayers. He knows what you are going through. I am simply, deeply grateful and still praying for all the friends and loved ones in my life who have not yet received their healing.”
And although he’s feeling better, there’s one more thing he needs the public’s help with.
“I fell off the bestseller list when I fell down the stairs, so I have to get back up,” Gifford said on NBC’s morning show, holding her latest book, Herod and Mary: The true story of the tyrant king and the mother of the resurrected Savior.
Kathie Lee Gifford reunites with Hod Kotb Today and does a hilarious Regis Philbin impression – watch!
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‘Herod and Mary’.
HarperCollins
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According to the official description, the historical non-fiction book gives “a deep insight into how Herod came to power, how corruption and ancient evil threatened the stability of the nation, and how the teenage Mary was called to overcome these obstacles to bring the Savior, Jesus, our living hope, into the world.”
Gifford previously told PEOPLE that she got the idea for the book while on a rabbinic trip to Israel a few years ago, and her son Cody, 34, “convinced” her that “these are stories that need to be told because people need hope”.
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Source: HIS Education