WEBVTT - Katie’s book tour extravaganza episode! 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:14.319 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kurrigan. This is next question. Yes, 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.840 the new year is upon us and we're winding down 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.680 this podcast season, which has been a really special one 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.880 for me, sharing the making of my memoir and some 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.160 of the most impactful moments for my personal and professional life. 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.479 But we're not done yet. People. If you didn't get 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.760 a chance to make it to any of the stops 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.800 on my book tour, and frankly even if you did, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:45.519 I have something special, stand vibe lights check, audience is in. Okay, Katie, 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:50.280 let's get ready. In three two, we're going there live. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:58.200 Thank you. You guys are so nice to be here, 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.320 to pay good money to come see me. Thank you 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.280 so so much. Hi. Today, I'm sharing some moments from 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.040 my nine city Whirlwind tour after going there, came out 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.640 and laid October. I went there to talk about my 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:18.679 book in person. Here's a little taste. Let's rewind, shall we, 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:24.720 to a time long ago and far away. My big 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.520 break came at w r C at local station in 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.480 d C, located right upstairs from the Washington Bureau of 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.200 I was proud as a peacock to be part of 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.080 the NBC family. I had woken up that morning with 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:43.040 a healthy husband, our lives stretching out before us. I 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.560 went to sleep with a husband who had stage four 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:50.200 calling cancer and a colostomy back. As Peter Parker in 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:55.720 Spider Man reminds us, with great power comes great responsibility, 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:01.080 and Matt unfortunately seriously abused his. After my first broadcast 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.160 on the CBS Evening News, it was open season on me, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.560 my makeup, my hair, the fact that I wore a 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:12.440 white jacket after Labor Day. What has been a raging 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:18.880 success though, is my merger with Muelner. Yeah. So for 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.200 all of you who may not believe in second chances, 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.960 I'm here to tell you it is possible. But I 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.000 also got to share the stage with some of my 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:32.720 very favorite people like Eina Garten and Jenn Garner, Chance 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.560 the Rapper, and Kim and Brad Paisley. You know what 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:41.520 he's He's going there, Katie, he is now. In addition 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.240 to those celebrity interviews and more on those in some 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.880 bonus episodes to come, yeha, I also about to sit 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.520 down with people you may not know but should. Many 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.280 of them who I met along the way. They were 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.600 at the center of some of the biggest stories of 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:01.880 my career, ordinary people who responded to extraordinary, often traumatic 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:07.680 events in inspiring and life changing ways. On this episode 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.160 of Next Question, I'm sharing the best moments from those conversations. 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.480 We'll begin where the tour did in Boston. I want 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.840 to give you all a warning. This is our first 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:25.799 night of doing this, so so so seriously, please please 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.560 be gentle because who knows what's going to happen. But 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.840 I'm so happy you're hearing. My guest was Celesque Corkrant. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.880 Celeste was watching her sister Carmen run the Boston Marathon 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:42.880 on April two and was at the proverbial wrong place 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.200 at the wrong time. When one of those bombs exploded. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.440 Celesque would lose both her legs. How do you put 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.800 your life together? How do you not let anger win? 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.840 How do you find purpose through the pain? How do 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.400 you go on? Well, I'll tell you because she is, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.080 and she's here tonight, so please welcome Celesque, poor friend 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:11.320 and her sister, Carmen Icabo. Celesque came on my talk 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.600 show back in just a few months after the bombing. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.800 Back then, she walked carefully on ill fitting prosthetics, but 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.920 in Boston this past October. She walked across the stage 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:30.440 confidently and securely, accompanied by her sister Carmen. Here's a 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.559 portion of our conversation. You've come such a long way, 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.800 I think since that day when you were on my show. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.640 And I think we should also mention that their daughter, Sydney, 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.560 who was seventeen at the time, suffered critical injuries that 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.360 day as well, had to go through numerous surgeries. And 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.920 I can't imagine as a mom, you are dealing with 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:59.560 your own injuries, and yet Sydney had her injuries too, 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.360 and you all ended up being sharing a hospital brand didn't. Yeah, 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.440 that was just luck that we ended up at the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.480 same hospital and everything. And then they put us when 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.880 they realized that we were mother and daughter, they put 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.480 us in the same room. But yeah, to be there 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:18.239 my mother everybody, like I've always been like that, and 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.720 to not be able to to be in a hospital bed, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.039 to have my legs in these casts, and then and 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.000 to know that Sydney was so hurting, you know, I 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.960 would see her crying um and he couldn't get up 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.839 and go to her, and I was I was always 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.520 that's my baby. Of course I'm going to be there. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.000 It was. It was overwhelming because it was the two 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.559 of them, and celest really wanted to be her mom 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.400 and she really couldn't. Um. I mean she could and 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.600 she was. But I think the hardest part about it 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.920 it was like, you know, we thought our life everything 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.119 was going to be so horrible because Cels lost her legs. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.120 But Sydney was so so sick, and so that was 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.200 what was so hard. Like her, her injuries were much 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.479 worse than selesces. If you can even imagine that, you 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:12.200 had to obviously deal with this sort of huge life change. 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:18.000 And I don't think we should underestimate how challenging it was, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:23.000 because not only physically for you, uh, Celeste, but also 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:28.000 just mentally and emotionally. It was really really tough. There 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.840 were days where you just wouldn't get out of bed. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:35.480 Understood days like that. Really, Yeah, I had, I've been 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.040 out of my legs. I'm just kind of I started 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.280 almost all over again. I had surgery from my nerve 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.480 pain um three years ago maybe it was it was 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:52.039 about three years ago over for COVID, and that was 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.200 a long recovery and I was out of my legs 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:55.880 um for a long time. I was just in the 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.880 wheel chair. So for the last like I don't know, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.960 three years more in my chair than in my legs. 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.400 But um, but I felt like I needed that two 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.400 like ground myself or something. You know. Here I am 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.720 up on these stilts. And before I lost my legs, 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.320 I used to walk barefoot all the time. I love 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.720 to walk barefoot. And I felt like there was some 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.360 gonna sound goofy, but I felt like there was some 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.080 kind of connection that was lost. You know, I needed 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.000 to be like down on the ground. You I know, 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:32.160 were introduced to other people who were amputees who had 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.160 lost their legs, and it was sort of helpful, but 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.040 not that helpful at first. Why was that? Um, some 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.000 marines came to see me, and um, a lot of 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:47.320 military people. So it was a lot of men and 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.040 a lot of um single leg amputees that I met 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.680 with or that you know, came to encourage me. And 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.160 that was fantastic. I needed that, but I was sort 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.680 of like missing, I don't even know how to say it, 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.640 like a female connection really right, that's exactly how to 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.840 say it. And so and so um and and luckily 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:13.200 you got connected with this incredible woman in California who 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.480 have lost her her legs because of frost bite when 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:21.679 she was nineteen years old, and you all became best friends. 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:26.160 And I feel like that relationship really turned things around, 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.520 didn't it. It really did. We I met her in 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:34.079 New York and she was going to an event and 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.000 she said that we had had numerous conversations on the phone, 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.960 and then she was like, I want to meet So 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.480 she was gonna go to the function in New York, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.080 but she had my number, let me tell you, because 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.760 she was like, Celeste, if I fly across the country 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.680 and show up there, you can't back out. And I 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.400 so would have. There was on a good day, you know. 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.520 I was just like, New York, I'm not gonna be 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.679 able to like what you know. And I was just 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.839 freaking out. And then this one was like don't you go? 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:10.080 And and so that I gave you, um, you know, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.920 it gave you back your fighting spirit in a way, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.040 didn't it. It did? Because that's how Jamie is. She's 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.760 very um. She's just a go get her and she's 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.600 just if I would cry, like say I had to 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.640 crawl to get into the car or something like, you know, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:30.960 get out of my wheelchair, get in the back of 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.160 the car, fold my wheelchair, put it in the car. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.800 I would call her and just be like, oh my god, 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:37.240 this is you know what I have to do. And 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.160 she was like, yeah, but you can do it. And 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:45.440 it's so true. And and now I went from crying 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.400 because I had to do something a certain way to yeah, 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.400 I've got this, Okay, I got it. I know that 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.160 you have started to do a lot of ad because 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.920 he worked with an organization called fifty Legs, which which 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:04.320 helps peep who who need help getting post prosthesis a prosthetic. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.880 I always have a hard time saying that, yeah, we 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.520 help people get yeah, and um that has that has 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.080 that helped you to by helping other people? Absolutely? Um, 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.440 she has really been helped to so many people, Like 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.040 there are people in the hospital or whatever, and just 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.240 throw out all of our work with fifty Legs and 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.439 what has happened to thee last Like you know, we've 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.480 always said from the beginning, with bad comes good, and 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.320 I think that's the over you know, the overwhelming theme 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.000 in our life, as we always have to say, with 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.640 bad comes good, and she has She's helped in so 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.920 many people. And in my situation, I feel strongly about 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.600 this in my situation, I had so many people. I mean, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.719 the whole city of Boston was behind all of us. Right, 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:57.440 talked about Bostons and people that I've met over the 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:04.040 years have car accidents, diabetes whatever, and lose limbs and 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.760 don't have any of that support that I had. So 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.600 I felt very strongly because I had so much help 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.440 and it helped me so much, and I don't know 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.240 what I would have done without that much help. So 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:17.360 every time when I can help somebody, I feel like 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.600 I'm just paying it forward, you know, And I hope 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.880 that and I tell them that if they need somebody 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.960 else they had some too. Wow, you're you're really a 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:32.040 remarkable person, and not you are. I just don't. I 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.319 just dealt with a situation that came to me as 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.960 best as I could. You know, I didn't choose this, 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.760 but I'm not done living, so of course has gone. 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.200 That was Celesque Corkran and her sister Carmen Icabo in Boston. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.640 In New York, I got to talk with Lauren Manning 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.520 in two thousand one. Lauren was a Wall Street executive 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.640 at Candor Fitzgerald, which was located it in the Twin 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.360 Towers on September eleven, Lauren was just entering the lobby 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.599 of the North Tower when the first plane hit and 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:13.280 a fireball from the elevator shaft enveloped her, burning more 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.480 than two of her body. Lauren, who is also a 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.520 wife and mother of two sons, Tyler and Jagger, had 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.640 a slim chance of survival. And yet you will not 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.920 believe how far she has come since I met her 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:33.120 two decades ago. She is a real force of nature. 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:40.600 Please welcome the extraordinary Lauren. Manny. You know I wanted. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.320 I was so thrilled, Lauren, first of all, that you 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.839 were willing to come back and and sort of reconnect 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.800 with me, because you're such an amazing person. It's such 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:55.200 a inspiration to me still to this day. And I 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.960 wanted to ask you just about this whole healing process, 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:04.679 because obviously we just passed the twentieth anniversary of nine eleven. Um, 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.160 do you do you have any residual effects from the 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:13.720 injuries that you sustained that day? Completely so, my life 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.920 on a daily basis is lived through a different prism 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:22.320 of what happened to me, and every aspect of it 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:26.960 is compromised from the way any limb works to the 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.199 way my voice works. Learning how to walk again and 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.800 speak again, and to really live again is all a 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:39.120 study in an ongoing series of pain UM, only punctuated 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.120 by sometimes, uh, the blessings that I have in life 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.560 of a husband and children who are even more painful 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.640 in certain moments. You know, Lauren, you were you were 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.080 a badass before this happened, and I'm curious if you're 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.959 kind of tough. You're such a determined woman. I mean, 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.520 when I met you at that rehab center, you I 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.520 just couldn't believe how focused you were on getting better. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.720 Do you think your personality type really contributed to your healing? 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:13.000 And You're you're a singular focus on that, I think 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.840 so certainly. You know, we all come from a different 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:21.680 place in a sense. But my family and my my upbringing, 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.600 and UH also being in a business that was dominated 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.560 by men who are all wonderful in so many ways, 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:34.440 but highly misogynistic and many others, really difficult to make 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.320 the grade and to get paid what you should. And 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.560 it created within me a thesis, along with my family's 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.960 service through the years, UH in the armed services, back 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:49.920 to the Revolutionary Revolutionary War, that I UM was there 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:54.960 in ninety three when the first Trade Center terrorists detect occurred, 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.680 and I knew in a sense and believed, as many 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.280 of us did, they would come back. And when I 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.560 looked up and knew that most of my friends and 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:08.080 colleagues were certainly gone, I had this chance, and uh, 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.480 I was not going to squander one minute of it. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:15.200 And and so many people from Canada. Fitzgerald died that day. 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.320 Was over six hundred, right, six hundred and fifty eight. 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.440 That's just so hard to believe. Meanwhile, you and you 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.480 and Greg, and your husband is such a sweetheart. Please 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.800 give him my best. You had another son after this, 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.200 You have a son named Jagger. So Tyler is now 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.160 twenty one, and Jagger is now eleven. Is that right? 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:42.320 But we just turned twelve. Tyler just turned twenty one, 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.080 and he's at Jay's alma matera the wonderful Trinity College, 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:51.280 and Jon Mohlner's alm alma mater, Trinity College and Hertford. Yeah, 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.960 and uh, Jagger turned twelve. And I don't know how 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.360 many of you have children, but twelve is like fifteen. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:05.160 And I've never been so wrong in my life. Uh, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.640 this was a reprieve to be here. To this evening, 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:13.600 so like happy to say goodbye to my young boss. Um, 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:15.720 I am just so happy to see you. How so 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.560 life today. You have the challenges of having an adolescent son, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:25.120 but and you're you're You're also still this tough businesswoman. 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.240 I'm so proud of you. You've got to start up, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.800 You're working, you know, really hard on that. So things are, 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.680 things are good. How would you describe your life today? 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.800 I mean, they are what they are. I think for 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.960 most of us, they're wonderful days and challenging days. But 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:46.400 the blessing of having the moment to prevail over the 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.320 fears of failure, which were very easy to let go 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:55.200 after nine eleven, has um really given me an opportunity 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.320 to be in a space of doing what I need 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.360 to do in terms of supporting things like sanctuary for 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:05.080 families and I pads for soldiers and helping wounded and 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.280 injured soldiers and starting a startup based on social commerce 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.520 and the nexus of privacy for consumers and allowing us 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.960 all to get paid for it. So that's a long 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:18.159 winded answer, but well, it sounds like your life is 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:24.760 very full and rich and purposeful. It is purposeful, yes, 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:29.880 if not always divinely well choreographed. I'm trying to get 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.760 from here to there, and you have been certainly someone 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.720 I've always looked to as a woman that has led 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.600 the way for so many of us. I feel so 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.959 blessed and privileged that I got to meet you, Lauren, 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.640 and I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished and all 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:51.879 that you've become despite everything that you face. So thank 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.200 you for coming back and and being here with us tonight. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:18:03.439 Thank you, Thank you Laura and Manning. Everyone. We'll be 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.760 back with more highlights from my book tour right after this. 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.480 At each city I traveled to for my book tour, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.760 I reconnected with some of the people I've met during 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.480 my career who have left a lasting impression, people like 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.440 Tom and Pam Bosley, who I got to know through 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:35.399 a documentary I produced in called Under the Gun. The 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:40.120 Bosley's have worked tirelessly to reduce the amount of gun violence, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.719 not only here in Chicago, but all across the country. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.840 They've joined forces with other families and are a real 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:52.880 example to me of turning their tragedy into action. I 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.199 just love them so much, so please welcome Tom and 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:01.040 Pam Bosley. Tom and Pam lost their oldest son, Terrell, 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.159 to gun violence in two thousand and six. He was 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.240 just a nineteen year old kid on his way to 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:11.880 band practice at his local church. His murder remains unsolved 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.879 to this day. You know, it's been fifteen years since 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.800 you lost Terrell and he would be thirty three years 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.399 old today, which is so hard to believe. And you 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.240 all did everything right. You kept him busy, you kept 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:32.359 him involved in sports and extracurricular activities. It just broke 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.040 my heart to see him on those videos. I'm sure 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:39.040 it's just crushing for you all. But um, what you 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.879 know when you think about Terrell today, what do you 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:47.000 think about Tom? What? Well, probably by now we would 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.120 be grandparents hopefully, and uh, you know, we just miss 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.879 everything about him, the music, the personality. And you know 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.159 a lot of his friends have are now they're grown 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.880 and they're married wickid, so you know when we see them, 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:05.040 we flashed back a little bit. You have two other sons, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.960 Trey and Terrest. I know, tell us how they're doing. Actually, trade, 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.520 I'm gonna start with the rest. So this is my 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.560 mildest son. So that's the one nobody never sees. But 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.000 he's my one that keeps me a courage. Um. He 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.680 was actually closer to Terrel. So he the one to 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.840 be like, mom, you've got this, um and he's always 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.240 in the background. But Tray is my uh my rock my, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.480 he's my baby. But he's an activist. He's outspoken. Uh, 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.239 he's the one that more like me, you know as 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.840 far as coming out talking about tell story. So his 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.240 goal is he's an activist and his goal is to 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:46.280 um reduce gun violence. And I know that when you 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:52.280 lost Terrell, you felt so alone and and and there 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.840 was nobody to really talk to about what you all 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.159 were going through. And that was the impetus for you 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:04.200 to start this incredible organization called Purpose over Pain. Tell 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.520 us about that we did that first year when um, 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.560 my life went throughout our life was destroyed because through 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.879 our life was taken. I try to take my life twice, UM, 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:17.680 so I didn't have nobody to turn to. And what 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:22.560 I myself, um A Nettop She's Blare the MoMA Blair 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:24.719 Hope who was killed on the bus and some more 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.800 of us. We came together and we started Purpose over 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.560 Pain because we knew God had a purpose for our life. 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.680 So what we started doing was supporting other parents like us, uh, 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.000 because we didn't you know. Actually, throughout the years we've 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.080 been meeting people who who didn't make it, you know, 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.520 because of this. So we support parents by doing events 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.000 like uh, this Christmas coming up, it's a hard time 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.320 for us. So we actually put together sneakers ball Um. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:53.920 We do different things to support them, and we advocate 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.679 for comments since gun maagers, we mentor young people. So 0:21:57.760 --> 0:21:59.879 we just try to stay busy helping each other and 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:01.760 try to get our cases stived because in the city 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.760 of Chicago, over the cases we may unstave. So we 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:08.120 walked the streets and we try to solve our cases. 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.040 So we united together to help each other and just 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:14.040 to support each other. And you won't get phone calls, 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.480 I mean at all hours of the night from grieving parents, 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:22.919 which must be so difficult. Tom, It's tough because it 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.439 never stops. Um. You know, you hear about some cases 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:28.639 in the news, but then we get the ones you 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.800 don't hear about in the news, and and every time 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.040 you get that call, it takes you back to the 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:36.840 day that you got that call, you know, so you're 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:41.879 constantly reliving it. So at times it's difficult. But the 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.880 joy you get, if there's a joy, is that you're 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:48.080 helping a parent get through this process as best you 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:51.479 possibly can so that you know, um, they can keep 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.359 the memory of their kids alive and we can bind 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:58.280 together and hopefully make a difference. Just have support, right 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:01.359 exactly because it's it's we get like forty five phone 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.360 calls a week. Actually have the number in my pocket. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.400 I've brought it with me, um, because we really need 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:10.720 to always say these numbers. UM. Year to date here 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.639 in Chicago, we had three thousand, nine hundred and seventy 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:16.639 eight people shot and six dred and eighty eight people 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:19.600 did and nobody really talked about it. And and November 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.679 just you know, we just started November, we had fifty 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.080 two people shot and we have twelve dead. And these 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:27.400 are the phone calls we get every single day. We're 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:31.160 getting forty five calls a week trying to help buried children. 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:33.080 And that's what purpose of the paying do we make 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:37.080 donations to burying our children Because some people don't have insurance, 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:39.520 they don't have anything, so they you know, want to 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.080 cremate their children because they don't have money to bury them. 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.680 So UM, we we there for them, We support them 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:49.399 all kinds of ways. Why why hasn't it gotten better? Um? 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:52.920 You know the statistics in Chicago or worse than ever. 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:56.520 And I know that the governor has been very supportive 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:01.879 and is channeling a lot of money million dollars to 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:06.360 to to address some of the systemic issues that are 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:12.000 creating these problems. But you know, how do you how 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.040 do you explain that it's it's worse than effort? You know, 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.040 I was, I was speaking earlier. It's a will issue 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:22.480 in my opinion, Um, just like the pandemic. You know, 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:25.520 if you can bring resources together to come up with 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.159 a cure, uh for a vaccine, you can do the 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:30.960 same thing for the pandemic of gun violence. But there 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:33.960 is a will, there's a lack of a will to 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:36.520 h to do that. Well, I know one thing that 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:39.520 gives you hope is your son Trey has become an 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:43.760 activist as well, and he gave a speech um at 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:47.840 the the two thousand eighteen March for Our Lives event. 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:51.240 I was actually there in Washington, d C. Let's show 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:55.840 tray in action. It's time to care about all communities eating. 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:59.000 It's time to stop judging some communities it's worth as 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:02.200 some community word. It's time to stop judging you that 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.000 look like me or my brother, that come from a 0:25:05.080 --> 0:25:12.919 privates communities any different than anyone else. It's time for 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:18.200 America to notice that everyday shootings are everyday problems. I'll 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:21.000 close with this Pope by Marlotha King was said, we 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:24.800 must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. I 0:25:24.840 --> 0:25:26.679