The Miraculous Giffords

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was one of the unfortunate people who was involved in the shooting in Tucson, Arizona. In the shooting, six people were killed and thirteen were wounded from gunshots. Giffords suffered a gunshot through the left hemisphere of her brain, but has been meeting or exceeding all of the expectations set for her so far. She has recently been able to open her eyes on her own for extended amounts of time. Doctors and visitors say that you can tell by her eyes she is starting to be able to understand her surroundings and what is going on. One time, when asked to give a thumbs up if she could see a person, she gave a thumbs up as well as raising her entire hand. Another time, when asked to touch her husband's wedding ring, she did, grabbed his arm, then tried to hug him. She does have a breathing tube to help her, but the doctors say she has shown that she can breathe slightly on her own which means that soon, they may try removing the breathing tube. While Giffords still remains in critical condition, doctors as well as thousands of other U.S. citizens, have high expectations for her and believe she has the strength to pull through.
To hear a positive story in the news is so uplifting, and this story is one to bring inspiration and hope to almost any situation. Everyone knows that injuries to the brain are dangerous. I was told only 10% of people who suffer a gunshot wound to the brain survive. In Psychology, we talked about this story a little bit, our teacher explaining how amazing Gifford's progress really is. The bullet went through her left hemisphere, with normal hemisphere wounds, she would not be able to move the left side of her body, however she can move for sure her left leg (I'm not sure about her arm or facial muscles). This is great, also considering that she can breathe at least a little on her own means that her medulla was not injured- which is wonderful news because without your medulla (which controls breathing, heart rate, etc.) you would not be able to live without being hooked up to numerous machines. More great news is that her occipital lobe was not injured meaning that her eyes are fully functional. This has been seen by her visitors who say that she seems to be understanding her surroundings through her vision. The bad news of her injury is that they are worried she may not be able to speak because that ability is held in the left hemisphere of her brain. No matter what she can or can't do in the end, it is just a miracle that she has survived and progressed so far already. She is a strong fighter- someone we can all look to for inspiration.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/arizona.shooting/index.html?hpt=Sbin