Gabrielle Giffords since her shooting
Gabrielle Giffords since her shooting in January was revealed Sunday in photos of the Arizona congresswoman posted on her official Facebook page.
Daniel Hernandez had been an intern for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for only five days before she was shot at an event on Saturday. Hernandez rushed to Giffords’ side and applied pressure to her head wound and held her in his lap until paramedics arrived. Giffords remains in critical condition
In the images, Giffords’ hair is dark and closely cropped, but she wears the same beaming smile that was her hallmark before she and a dozen others were seriously wounded and six people were killed in an attack outside a grocery store near Tucson. The alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial by a judge, but his prosecution could go forward if his condition improves.
The photos were taken on May 17 by photojournalist P.K. Weis of SouthwestPhotoBank.com, a longtime photographer for the now-defunct Tucson Citizen who has known Giffords for more than a decade.
Photos: Gabrielle Giffords shooting in Arizona
Weis snapped the pictures at the Houston rehabilitation center where Giffords is being treated, the day before she was scheduled to undergo a cranioplasty to repair part of her skull that was removed because of brain swelling. The photo session occurred the day after the launch of Endeavour shuttle, which carried her husband, Mark Kelly, into space.
“Any photographer in the country would have loved the opportunity to take these pictures and I was delighted to be asked,” Weis said in a statement.
“It was very inspiring to see how much she had recovered in 4 1/2 months,” he added. “I was excited to see her and to see her smile. She was glad to see me, was in a good mood, smiling and laughing and seemed to enjoy the experience. I certainly did too.”
The photos generated dozens of supportive messages on Facebook. “What a beautiful, miraculous smile to inspire us all to do our best no matter what happens,” wrote one man. “I earnestly wish to see Rep. Giffords to Congress soon though her incredible example has already been wondrous and deeply touching.”
Her staff has indicated that she may be released from the rehabilitation hospital in the next month, but cautioned that she still has a significant recovery ahead of her.
“If she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before,” Giffords’ chief of staff Pia Carusone told the Arizona Republic last week. “There’s no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won’t plateau today and that she’ll keep going and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and close friend of Giffords, said they spoke on the phone Wednesday for the first time since the shooting.
“She spoke to me in full sentences, initiated those sentences, instead of just responding, which is what she’d really only been able to do recently,” Schultz said during an appearance on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “And she’s making remarkable progress. We’re so proud of her. She’s working so hard. She’s got a long way to go. But you can just see how beautiful she is, and we are longing and looking forward to her coming back.
Perris Murillo,11, of Tucson, left, and his brother Easin,10, say a prayer for shooting victims during a memorial in front of University Medial Center. Six people were killed and 14 injured at a Congress on the Corner event held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who remains in critical condition.
Photographs of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is in critical condition, and Judge John Roll, who was slain, are part of a makeshift memorial at the University of Arizona Medical Center for victims of a shooting rampage in Tucson.
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