Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has announced that she is officially stepping down from her Arizona congressional seat that one year earlier nearly cost her life.
Giffords announced her departure from her Arizona seat in a touching YouTube video in which she states:
“Arizona is my home. Always will be. A lot has happened over this past year,” while adding, “I don’t remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. Thank you for your prayers, and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do.”
Gabrielle Giffords goes on to note:
“So to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week.” While adding, “I will return. And we will work together for Arizona and this great country.”
Here’s the entire Gabrielle Giffords YouTube video:
[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nguu0TkCTd4? width=”640? height=”360?]
Giffords has spent the last year recovering from a bullet wound to the head which required the congresswoman to undergo various surgeries and painful and slow rehabilitation. It was just several months ago that she returned home with Astronaut husband Mark Kelly and began her rehabilitation in an outpatient capacity.
In supportive statements on her YouTube page fans of the congresswoman wrote:
“Thank you, Gabby Giffords – you are an inspiration, whether Congresswoman or not.”
and
“Not having you in Congress is America’s loss – hope you get really better soon :)”
When she will return to politics is anyone’s guess but given her amazing recovery in a rather short period of time I wouldn’t be surprised if it was sooner rather then later.
