PJ: Months ago, the only thing that many knew about Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was that she was targeted by the right (and most specifically on Sarah Palin's crosshairs map) for defeat in her reelection bid for her Arizona Congressional seat. After winning reelection, Ms. Giffords became the target of a deranged gunman who shot her at close range. The first reports that Ms. Giffords had died in the attack were later corrected to say that she was in critical condition.
Ms. Giffords amazing recovery is heralded as miraculous. It is a story of medical science at its best and one woman's drive with the incredible support of family, friends and colleagues and an entire nation who stand by her.
Sydney Morning Herald
Shot US politician to watch shuttle launch
US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' doctors say they feel "very comfortable with her travelling," in anticipation she will attend her astronaut husband's space shuttle launch on Friday.
The Democratic lawmaker was shot once through the head during a January 8 shooting rampage that killed six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, at an outdoor meeting she was hosting in Tuscon, Arizona.
Giffords was transferred to TIRR Memorial Hermann rehabilitation hospital in Houston, Texas, in late January.
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"I can't say I notice improvement every day, but I can every few days," NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, the congresswoman's husband, told The Arizona Republic in an article published on Sunday.
Kelly is the commander of the space shuttle Endeavour's final mission, scheduled to launch Friday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Giffords has said she wants to attend the launch, and Dong Kim, the Memorial Hermann neurosurgeon who oversees Giffords' care, indicated her wish will be granted.
"We're very comfortable with her travelling," he told the newspaper.
ABC News reported, meanwhile, that doctors have formally approved the trip to Florida.
Kim said Giffords "is maybe in the top one per cent of patients in terms of how far she's come, and how quickly she's gotten there. I think the question, then, becomes, how far is she going to go?"
Surgery is scheduled in May to repair a section of her skull with a cranial implant.
Surgeons in Tucson tried to preserve the portion they removed but it is now infected.
Giffords does rehabilitation with a grocery cart and bowling ball, the Republic reported.
She can stand on her own and walk a bit, but use of her right leg is still improving.
She is learning to write with her left hand.
"Her left side is perfect," said Giffords' chief of staff Pia Carusone.
"She can do whatever you can do."
Giffords is aware that she was shot but hasn't been told that the shooting victims included her friends and colleagues or a 9-year-old girl, and three others.
"The challenge is she knows what she wants to say, and she knows everything that's going on around her," Carusone said, but can't always express it.
"It's frustrating for her. She'll sigh out of exasperation."
Alleged gunman Jared Loughner has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
The congresswoman's parents, Gloria and Spencer, have rarely left their daughter since she was shot, according to the newspaper.
Friends and staff have covered the walls of her room with poster-sized photos of joyous events such as her wedding and hiking in the Grand Canyon.
She remembers the events, which doctors say is a good sign.
"I want to work," she tells her visiting staffers, who bring her articles and office memos about their work.
Her husband visits in the morning, bringing coffee and the newspaper, before going to work at NASA.
He returns at night.
The newspaper said Kelly sometimes naps with his wife in her twin-size hospital bed.
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/world/shot-us-politician-to-watch-shuttle-launch-20110425-1dt9u.html
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