Gabrielle Giffords leaves hospital after appendicitis

FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, about bipartisan legislation on gun safety on March 4, 2015. Giffords, who was forced to give up her promising political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, announced Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, she was leaving a hospital after being treated for appendicitis.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, about bipartisan legislation on gun safety on March 4, 2015. Giffords, who was forced to give up her promising political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, announced Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, she was leaving a hospital after being treated for appendicitis.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

 
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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was forced to give up her promising political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, announced Saturday she was leaving an Arizona hospital after being treated for appendicitis.

“I’m getting better — let’s go,” Gifford said as she made a fist and gestured with her left arm in a five-second video clip that she posted on Twitter.

“Eleven years ago, I left the hospital facing a lifetime of recovery. Today, I’m leaving the hospital glad it’s only appendicitis, and grateful for friends, family, my incredible medical team, and of course, @CaptMarkKelly, who gives true meaning to ‘in sickness and in health,’” she said in a statement.

The office of Giffords’ husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, had announced Wednesday that Giffords had checked into a hospital and that he was returning to Tucson to be with her.