Gabby_ A Story of Courage and Hope - Alison Hanson [141]
“A lot of stroke patients with aphasia are highly depressed,” Nancy explained, “and they haven’t been through as much as Gabby has. You could imagine Gabby being very depressed, because she was at the top of her game—a young congresswoman, a new marriage. If you consider how much she had going for her, and how it all stopped so abruptly, it’s not hard to imagine someone in that situation feeling suicidal, or losing the will to live.”
Nancy was impressed by Gabby on other fronts: her optimism, her performance, her stamina, her memory. “If you don’t have memory, therapy is so much harder,” Nancy said, “because you can’t build on anything. Gabby’s memory is great.”
Nancy said she was ready for a more intensive aphasia therapy program to supplement her three to five hours a day of outpatient work at TIRR. On Nancy’s recommendation, I started interviewing speech language pathologists to work with Gabby every afternoon for two to three more hours. We also planned a fall visit to Nancy’s office in Asheville, North Carolina, so Nancy and her colleagues could work with Gabby intensely for twelve days.
When Nancy was leaving my house, I asked her: “So what do you think? Will Gabby eventually be able to return to Congress?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I think Gabby will be able to do whatever she wants, and I think she has good judgment. Whether she should return to Congress, whether she should run again, when the time comes, she’ll know.”
Nancy said that Gabby would certainly have difficulties in future debates; her remarks will come more slowly. She might not have the easy glibness that politicians often rely on. But quick retorts aren’t the essence of public service. Could Gabby return to work and be an effective lawmaker? “Absolutely,” Nancy said.
“But for now,” she advised, “like a lot of people with health problems, she needs to take things one day at a time. Give her each day, one at a time.”
In the history of our country, Gabby appears to be the only female elected official to be wounded in an assassination attempt. She endured this horrific injury on the job, while serving her constituents. From the day she was shot, I believed that she deserved time to recover before she decided whether she was capable of returning to her seat.
As her health and abilities improved, Gabby often articulated that she wanted to get back to work. At times in July, she seemed to be just a breath away from full sentences, and just a step away from being ready to resume her duties. Her urge to return, and these steady improvements, only cemented my feeling that she should be given the time she needed to heal. Thousands of Americans are injured on the job each year, and their positions are held for them while they recover. So it was with Gabby.
Gabby’s doctors repeatedly told us that those with traumatic brain injuries often continue to make large strides for a year to eighteen months after they are hurt. Beyond that, they said, Gabby would continue to improve throughout her lifetime.
Considering the doctors’ input, and Gabby’s resolve, I believed she deserved a year or longer to make her decision. So far, it had been just over six months. How much more progress would she make? Maybe a lot. Maybe she’d get almost all the way back. Doctors said it was unlikely that she’d ever use her right hand again to, say, play the piano, but she never did play the piano anyway. As she improved, she might be able to use it for some tasks. And she’d definitely keep making leaps forward in her language skills. So the signs were encouraging.
Against my better judgment, I’d occasionally read the anonymous comments at the bottom of stories about Gabby on media websites. Many people wished Gabby well and rooted her on. It was nice to read those postings. But from the start, there were some people calling for Gabby’s immediate resignation. They said she wasn’t able to represent her constituents in Washington, so she should step down. They ignored how hard her staffers were working to deal with every issue brought