Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head on January 8, 2011, by a mentally disturbed man, Jared Loughner. He killed 6 and wounded 12 more, and almost made Giffords the second congressperson to be killed in the line of duty (the first was Leo Ryan, killed by the Jim Jones cult in Guyana just before the mass deaths at Jonestown in November 1978). She announced that she would retire from Congress in order to focus on her recovery. She’s made miraculous strides already, and is in the top 1% in terms of abilities of survivors of being shot in the head. She was shot on the left side, which affects speech most obviously. Her memory is intact, as is her ability to comprehend speech. However, she is struggling to be able to speak. She went from being completely unable to speak, to being able to speak in short sentences, and she continues to improve on a daily basis. She also lost the ability to control the right side of her body, but is regaining control of that, too, thanks to intensive physical and occupational therapy. This video shows her abilities after the shooting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hop_MVTwaZQ

and today:

http://giffords.house.gov/

I recently read the book Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Giffords and her husband (Mark Kelly, a navy pilot who served in the first Gulf War, as well as being an astronaut and the commander of the final Space Shuttle mission this past May). It was an excellent read overall.  Here are a few factoids from it.

5. The Congresswoman lost 50% of her vision in each eye due to damage from the shooting. She won’t get that back ever.

4. A popular saying at NASA is “None of us is as dumb as all of us.”

3. It was thought by many that contributing to the shooting was the toxic atmosphere in Washington, with frequent metaphors about taking up arms against political opponents. Giffords even expressed concern about it before she was shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7046bo92a4 . Following the shooting, a Palin friend contacted them to say that Palin was “devastated” by the attack. Kelly thought about what he would say to Palin when Palin called to express her sympathy, as so many other politicians had done from both parties in the days following the attack. He resolved to tell Palin “You are NOT responsible for the shooting. But you are irresponsible.” But Palin never contacted them so he never gave his spiel. Also MIA from visiting was House Speaker John Boehner, even though he was repeatedly in Houston, where Giffords was hospitalized. However, Texas resident George H.W. Bush invited Kelly and his two daughters to visit, and also visited Giffords in the hospital, which delighted her.

2. Every morning, Mark Kelly went to the hospital to visit his wife, and stopped by Starbucks first to get her her favorite drink, non-fat cinnamon latte. When the staff found out who it was for, they started decorating her cups, then got an elementary school to start making custom cup decorations for her.

1. The numerous Americans who have experienced major head trauma in Iraq and Afghanistan are not getting nearly the care they need to recover optimally.