Giffords Offers Encouragement To Bruce Willis, Everyone With Aphasia

ARIZONA — Tucson's Gabby Giffords offered some words of encouragement via a Washington Post article to those living with aphasia, including Bruce Willis, whose family recently announced he was dealing with the condition.

"My message for Bruce Willis and for everyone out there struggling with aphasia — or any other communication disorder — is that you are not alone," Giffords wrote. "I’m here for you. We are here for each other. And together, we’re going to get through this — and be stronger for it."

Willis's family announced last month that the 67-year-old was stepping away from acting following an aphasia diagnosis.

Aphasia makes it difficult those who have it to find the right words to express themselves, even when it doesn't affect other areas of cognition. That means the person with aphasia might understand the words being spoken to them, and know how they want to respond, but can't recall the right language to do so. Aphasia has various causes, including brain injury, stroke or Alzheimer's disease. Willis' family did not share the cause of his aphasia.

Giffords has lived with aphasia for the past 11 years, after being shot in the head during a constituent event in Tucson on Jan. 8, 2011. Giffords was a legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Arizona's 8th District from 2007 until 2012, when she was forced to resign to focus on her recovery. Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly was elected in 2020 to a U.S. Senate seat, representing Arizona.

"Trust me, aphasia really sucks!" Giffords wrote on her Facebook page the day after Willis' announcement. "The words are right there on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t always get them out."

The cause for Giffords' aphasia was a bullet that went through the left hemisphere of her brain, where language function is located.

"Imagine struggling to talk to your loved ones on the phone, the words you want to say on the tip of your tongue, but not being able to get them out," Giffords wrote in The Washington Post piece. "Or imagine struggling to talk to strangers: Though my cognition — my understanding and intelligence — is unaffected by my aphasia, sometimes that is not clear to new acquaintances because of my speech. That misunderstanding can itself be painful and frustrating."

She added that an aphasia diagnosis doesn't have to mean the end of communication and connection, but it does require a shift in how a person connects and communicates.

Giffords wrote that she makes an effort to focus on the things she can do, rather than what she can't. That means playing the French horn, riding her bike and taking Spanish lessons.

She acknowledged that dealing with aphasia will be a lifelong journey that she works through along with her speech therapist, Fabi Hirsch.

Giffords and Hirsch co-founded the Tucson-based organization Friends of Aphasia, which aims to help those with aphasia get patient-centered services, education the public about the condition and promotes research aimed at effective treatments.

Around 2 million people in the U.S. have aphasia, but around 84 percent of people have never heard of the condition, according to Friends of Aphasia.