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and support. This was an incredible team effort and your leadership was instrumental to the success of STS-134. I am grateful to C.J. Sturckow for selflessly filling in for me as mission commander during the early days after Gabby was injured. And to all of the folks who worked on space shuttle Endeavour and got it ready for its final flight, thank you for giving us an incredible spacecraft that got us safely to the International Space Station and back to Earth sixteen days later. I also appreciate the support of my flight surgeon and friend, Dr. Joe Dervay, NASA psychologist Dr. Walt Sipes, flight surgeon Rick Senter, and the flight medicine office led by Dr. J.D. Polk. I could not have completed this mission without your support. Thanks also to Beth Turner, Kelly Curtis, our STS-134 family escorts, and the astronaut family support office for all of the help they provided both in Houston and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I also appreciate the help of NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. Leadership begins at the top and it was nice to know that Gabby and I had a friend in Charlie. Thanks to my boss and astronaut classmate, Dr. Peggy Whitson, whose confidence in me during these trying times was greatly appreciated. And a special thanks goes out to my colleague Piers Sellers who immediately flew to Tucson on the day that Gabby was injured and stayed by my side to help in every way possible until the day I returned from space. He has a big heart and has been a great friend to both of us.

We are all forever grateful to our friends Amber and Steve Mostyn, who were so generous in assisting Gabby’s parents while they were in Houston. We want to thank our friends Ron and Carmel Garan who provided help to Gabby’s staff. I am personally indebted to Katherine Jacobsen for all of the help she provided me in taking over the management of Gabby’s personal affairs. The paperwork alone would have been a nightmare without her.

This is the first book I have been involved with. It has been a great experience, though difficult at times. I’m thankful, every day, that we selected Jeff Zaslow to collaborate with us on this project. I really enjoyed the countless hours I spent discussing our story with Jeff, and the process of putting the words on paper. I’ve come to appreciate the time and effort needed to write a book. This certainly would not have been the same book with any other collaborator. I truly appreciate Jeff’s passion and drive to help deliver something very special. We also thank Jeff’s wife, Sherry Margolis; agent, Gary Morris; and researcher, Korey Tucker, for their helpful input on the manuscript.

Many thanks to our attorney Bob Barnett for his sound advice and guidance through this process. Nan Graham, our editor, and Susan Moldow, our publisher, at Scribner have been great to work with as well. They’ve been positive and encouraging but had just the right touch in propelling Jeff and us forward. We also are indebted to many others at Simon & Schuster, including: Brian Belfiglio, Elisa Shokoff, Paul Whitlatch, Roz Lippel, Rex Bonomelli, Daniel Burgess, Mia Crowley, Erich Hobbing, and CEO Carolyn Reidy. Great thanks to all of you for your help with this project.

We also want to thank Brad Holland, who has been taking care of Gabby’s place and her new fish while she’s been recovering in Houston. We value his friendship. Marc Winkelman has been a constant presence and makes Gabby happy with every visit or phone call. Then there are all of our friends who have touched our lives in many ways. We could not name all of them here and I am certain I overlooked many I should have included. But you know who you are, and please know that we both appreciate your support and are forever grateful.

Finally, many thanks go out to Gabby’s Cactus Roots. These are all of her supporters around the country, and we’ve come to consider them part of our family. They have sent tens of thousands of cards and letters and every one of them is special to Gabby and to me.

Thank you!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

A third-generation Arizonan, Gabrielle Giffords