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The family of Coretta Scott King, the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior, has requested everyone to continue to pray for her recovery.
Mrs. King suffered a heart attack and a stroke and is expected to be hospitalized for weeks or even months. According to her doctor Mrs. King is partially paralyzed and unable to speak.
Charles Wickliffe, Mrs. King's cardiologist at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, stated it would be weeks to months before she could have use of her right arm and leg. He added "We hope that her speech will come back quickly."
"The stroke has caused weakness of the right arm, the right leg and the right side of her face," Wickliffe told reporters late Thursday. "She can understand some things, but not everything," he noted, adding that "she is in great spirits."
Mrs. King, 78, has been at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital since Tuesday, and is listed in good condition. Doctors stated that the heart attack and stroke were brought on by a blood clot.
Mrs. King had been briefly admitted to the same hospital in April for heart trouble.
Late Thursday, Mrs. King's four children, Martin Luther III, Yolanda, Dexter, and Bernice, spoke to reporters for the first time about their mother's condition and said they expect her to fully recover.
"We are completely assured she will come to a complete recovery," said Yolanda King, the oldest child. "We believe this is a cleverly disguised opportunity to grow."
Born in Alabama on April 27, 1927, Coretta Scott married the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior and joined his long, peaceful fight for civil rights for African-Americans in the United States.
After her husband was shot dead by an assassin at a Tennessee hotel in 1968, King established the King Center in Atlanta to preserve the legacy of his fight for equality, social justice and peace.