Tattoos greet staffer's release from hospital

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 13, 2007 at 8:19 p.m.
Updated December 13, 2007 at 8:19 p.m.

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Photo by Darin McGregor © The Rocky

Dan Griebenow gets a hug as members of Youth With A Mission welcome him home after he was released from Denver Health in Arvada

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Dan Griebenow was released from Denver Health Medical Center on Thursday, five days after being shot by rampaging gunman Matthew Murray in a dormitory for young missionaries in Arvada.

In a show of solidarity, about 20 of Griebenow's friends greeted his release with a special tribute. This week they all had the tattoo "Remember" etched into their right wrist.

It's a replica of a tattoo worn by Tiffany Johnson, Griebenow's girlfriend and one of two missionary staffers killed during the attack at the Youth With A Mission center.

Johnson, 26, wore her wrist tattoo to remember a friend who died in a car accident several years ago, said Stephen Warren, a fellow missionary staffer.

Griebenow, 24, has toughed out a painful week, Warren said. "He's been laughing and stuff, but I could read in his eyes that he was really thinking about a lot."

Griebenow, shot in the throat, is regaining the use of his voice, "though for now he kind of sounds like the godfather," Warren said.

He's refused some painkillers so he can communicate better with his family and friends, and has asked authorities whether he can have the bullet when they are done with it .

Because of his surgery, Griebenow couldn't get inked with the others. But he already has an elaborate tattoo going up his torso.

"It was a bonding moment, a healing moment, for all of us," Warren said of the etchings. "When you decide to put something on yourself forever — the word Remember — that's like saying, 'Hey, don't forget me.'"

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