A ‘Medical Miracle’

Well-wishers lined Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ ambulance route to the airport Friday, cheering, waving American flags, and hoisting signs urging “Get Well Gabby!” as the congresswoman embarked on a long journey of rehabilitation already being hailed as a “medical miracle” and “divine intervention.”

It was just two weeks ago Saturday that a deranged gunman shot Giffords in the head, wounding her so severely that several  news sources initially reported she had perished. Six people died in the attack that also left 19 wounded.

A bullet penetrated Giffords’ skull and passed through her brain. Doctors report that only 5 percent of patients suffering gunshots to the head survive – and most are unresponsive and mired in deep comas.

In the hours after the shooting rampage, surgeons in Tucson temporarily removed a portion of Giffords’ skull to prevent swelling from causing further damage to her brain.

Once the risk of swelling passed, Giffords was taken off a ventilator that was helping her breathe. Her progress since then has astounded onlookers and delighted her physicians.

“I believe that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ recovery, so far, is a medical miracle,” declared Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine and medical director at NYU Langone Medical Center, in an article posted on FoxNews.com.

“Through it all Congresswoman Giffords continues to respond to commands,” Siegel added. “A striking and optimistic fact in and of itself … divine intervention when viewed in the larger context; a sum of all the great luck and skill she's experienced so far.”

University of Arizona Medical Center doctors accompanied Giffords’ from Tucson to her new rehabilitation facility in Houston, where she will be closer to her husband and two daughters.

The doctors reported the “heart-wrenching” experience of faintly hearing the cheers of encouragement from onlookers as the ambulance, led by a police motorcycle escort, passed the crowd lining their route.

They said Giffords responded to the cheers, “smiling and at times tearing a bit. It was very emotional.”

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