Request for Reader Help: Has Your Gmail Been Hacked?

I mentioned several months ago that, soon after we returned from China, my wife's Gmail account had been hijacked, with surprising ripple effects, and that I'd be writing more about the episode later. The time for writing about it is here, and I'll have an article in the issue-after-next of the magazine. As a last part of the reporting process, I would be grateful to hear from people who meet the following conditions:
     -- You are a Gmail user.
     -- At some point during 2011 your Gmail account was hijacked or hacked.
     -- Large amounts of your email archives, or contacts, were deleted as part of the hijacking.

If that describes you, would you please send me the answers to the following questions?
    1) When did it happen? (Date)
    2) Did you get the maliciously deleted email/contacts back?
    3) If so, when did you get them? If not, what did Google tell you about the prospects for recovery?

There is an "email Fallows" button at the top of that screen. You can use that to send the reply. I heard from quite a number of people when this was happening to my wife, and now I am looking for others who have had similar experiences. All will be revealed when the article comes out. And, I will keep your name and contact info private. Thanks.