Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords: Continuing to Inspire

After a year of recovering from an assassination attempt that stunned the entire world, United States Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords made the decision to step down from her congressional seat and concentrate on getting better.

“Thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover,” Giffords said in an announcement posted on her Facebook page on January 22. “I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down from Congress this week.”

Since being shot in the head on January 8, 2011 in a bloody Tucson massacre that left six dead and 13 wounded, including 9-year-old, two staffers, and a federal judge, she has undergone intense and exhausting physical therapy.

The daily physical therapy, reteaching Giffords to speak and walk, began at the University of Arizona Medical Center, and continued in a Houston hospital. For the last several months, she has received outpatient therapy at the Houston home of her husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly.

Giffords returned to Tucson last month to be a part of a poignant candlelight service, held at the University of Tucson. The event commemorated the one-year anniversary of the shooting.  Giffords led the pledge of allegiance.

“It was difficult for Gabby to be there,” says Mark Kimble, Giffords’s communications direction and long-time friend. “But she absolutely wanted to be there. Gabby loves Tucson—it’s her hometown.”

Kimble admits that the improvements in her recovery are staggering. He and other staff members have seen Giffords several times, and Kimble was with her in Houston at the take-off of the Space Shuttle Endeavor, commanded by Kelly.

“She’s exactly the same person,” he says. “She has no problem remembering, except for the day of the shooting…and her sense of humor is intact. Her only issue is finding the right word, stringing words together. It’s an inspiration.”

Another inspiration is the dedication of Giffords’s staff, meeting the evening after the shooting and deciding to open the office the very next day – 46 hours after the tragedy. It was an emotional decision—press advisor Ron Barber and part-time outreach coordinator Pam Simon remained hospitalized, and director of community outreach Gabe Zimmerman was dead, along with 9-year-old Christina Taylor-Green..

“It was emotional,” Kimble remembers. “But there are people who depend on us. We want to do what Gabby hired us to do. No doubt this has brought all of us much closer together. What we have gone through is unlike anything any other congressional staff has ever been through before. We depend on each other a tremendous amount—these are my closest friends.”

As Giffords resigns and her Tucson office closes, she will concentrate all of her focus on healing.

“I don’t remember much from that horrible day,” Giffords said in the video, “but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. I’m getting better every day—my spirit is high. I will return, and we will work together for Arizona, and this great country.”