Show full transcript 0:46 And when it's time to unwind, 0:47 cozy up with their plush slippers and buttery soft tees. 0:51 Head over to bombas.com slash Dateline 0:54 and use code DATELINE for 20% off your first purchase. 0:57 That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash date line. 1:02 Code date line at checkout. 1:11 Hi, I'm Lester Holt with a special preview of my new podcast, Before and After. 1:16 In this week's episode, I sit down with Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman 1:21 married to Senator Mark Kelly. 1:24 Back in 2011, Gabby was shot in the head while meeting with constituents outside 1:28 a Tucson grocery store. 1:30 she suffered a devastating brain injury 1:33 that left her with partial paralysis and aphasia, 1:37 a condition that sometimes makes it difficult to speak. 1:40 But as I learned, Gabby still has a lot to say 1:43 about her recovery, her gun safety organization Giffords, 1:47 and her hope for the future. 1:52 I can't believe we've never met. 1:54 No. How is that? 1:55 Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. 1:56 I wanted to meet you because 1:59 I wanted to know what it's like being Gabby Giffords. 2:01 Funny, funny, funny. I'm Gabby Giffords. 2:05 Yoga twice a week, French horns, bandit lessons, biking, 2:10 244 the gym, pool therapy, and I'm trouble-in-law. 2:14 60% of the road. 2:15 Are we talking about an average day you do all that? 2:18 Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. 2:19 And how does it make you feel? 2:20 Love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah. 2:23 This is a point I think I want to bring in. 2:25 Emma Brown. Hi, Emma. 2:26 Hi. 2:26 You work with Gabby? 2:28 Yeah, the executive director of Giffords. 2:30 It's, yeah. 2:31 Gabby has a condition called aphasia. 2:34 Gabby, I'll turn it to you on that. 2:36 What does aphasia mean for your life? 2:38 How does it affect you? 2:39 Aphasia really sucks. 2:41 The words are there in my brain. 2:44 I just can't get them out. 2:46 I love to talk. 2:47 I'm Gabby and I'm so quiet now. 2:49 I don't experience you as all that quiet in real life. 2:54 What, what, what, and chicken, chicken, chicken. 2:57 When Gabby was shot, she was in a coma for a few weeks. 3:03 And when she woke up, 3:04 those were the only two words that she could say. 3:06 The word- 3:07 Chicken, chicken. 3:07 And what? 3:08 Yeah, the word what? 3:09 No one knows why, no one knows why, 3:10 but those were the only words that she could say 3:12 and she rebuilt her vocabulary from there. 3:16 Right after you were shot, I flew out to Arizona 3:19 and I was anchoring the news from there. 3:22 Tonight from Tucson, the massacre 3:24 that's left a nation stunned. 3:26 Six people are dead and a congresswoman fights for her life. 3:30 I'm sure you've been told this that there was some erroneous reporting that you had died. 3:35 Oh, no way, Jose. 3:37 Yeah. How long before you realize what had happened and the extent of your injuries? 3:44 What is happening to me? What is happening to me? 3:50 Gabby will, and Senator Kelly will tell a story of 3:54 after she had woken up, 3:55 they hid the newspapers from her 3:58 because it was too much to take in. 4:01 And I think you walked into the bathroom 4:04 right in the hospital and cried and said to Mark 4:08 what is happening to me, 4:10 realizing what had happened in the extent of her injuries.
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