Ron Barber reacts after opening a gift from his granddaughter while in the ICU at University Medical Center on Monday, January 10, 2011.

This Morning the family of Ron Barber released the following statement:

12 January 2011

My name is Jenny Douglas.  I am Ron Barber’s daughter. Behind me are my mom Nancy Barber, sister Crissi Blake, my husband Gawain Douglas and my brother-in-law Jason Blake.  I have a statement I would like to read on behalf of my family.

We would like to let you all know that my dad, Ron Barber, is doing well after his second surgery yesterday morning. He has been very alert since coming out of his 6-hour surgery on Saturday. He was able to see his four grandchildren on Monday, which gave him great pleasure. We expect him to be released from the ICU on Thursday.

On behalf of my Dad and the rest of our family, we would like to give our heartfelt thanks to our extended family, friends and the community as a whole for the overwhelming support we have received.

Specifically, we would like to thank all the UMC staff, doctors, nurses and patient care technicians who have been lovingly caring for Dad and our family these past days. The level of care, compassion and professionalism is truly exceptional. We would also like to thank the Tucson Police Department, Sheriff’s department and FBI.

We would like to express our deepest sympathies to the families who lost love ones on Saturday. Dad is so deeply saddened by the loss of his friend and fellow staff member Gabe Zimmerman and his long time friend Chief Judge John Roll.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the other victims and their families during their recovery.

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Daniel Hernandez whose clear thinking and actions in the midst of chaos undoubtedly helped save Congresswoman Gifford’s life. We would also like to personally thank Anna Ballis who applied pressure to Dad’s wounds until paramedics arrived. We are greatly indebted to her.

My Dad has worked in the public sector for this community for almost 40 years. He was with the Division of Developmental Disabilities for 34 years, most of that time as the director for Southern Arizona. He retired in 2006 and began volunteering immediately with Gabby’s campaign where he was the community outreach director. After her successful election Gabby appointed him as her district director. We knew he worked tirelessly to give a voice for those who often were not heard in his career with DDD. It was hard to imagine that he could actually work even more in his “new” career with Gabby, but somehow he does. With such a long career of public service in this community he has touched many lives — and now we are hearing from many of you who know him well and some of you who just knew of him. He has friends across the political spectrum and, like his boss, he just wants to do what is best for the people of our community. That is what drew him to Gabby and that is what binds them.

Throughout this ordeal Dad’s singular focus has been on the wellbeing of Gabby and he asks that we all continue to pray for her recovery and her family.