On June 12, 2016, young women Patience Murray (then Patience Carter),  Tiara Parker, and Akyra Murray went to the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, for a fun girls night. Together the friends danced until the early morning hours, kicking off Patience's  first trip outside of her native Philadelphia. Tragically, the joy of that evening was cut short when a gunman attacked the club, ultimately killing 49 people and wounding more than 52. Patience and Tiara were shot and survived, but Akyra (only 18), was killed. 

In the days that followed, Patience confronted her struggles -- physically, mentally, and emotionally -- creatively, first reading a poem entitled "The guilt of feeling grateful to be alive is heavy," at a press conference at the hospital following the shooting, then with her book Survive Then Live: The Patience Carter Story. 

In part one of this episode, Patience joins hosts Kelly and JJ to discuss her journey to healing -- from therapy on her legs, to PTSD, to wrestling with survivors guilt, to finding love in her now-husband,  Akyra Murray's brother, Alex, to her work with the Gun Violence Survivors Foundation. 

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Orlando Massacre Survivor: ‘The Guilt Of Being Alive Is Heavy’ (Huffpost)
• How one Pulse shooting survivor found love, learned to live again after tragedy (GMA)
• Survive then Live (the Moth)
• Eagles debut 'Sincerely, Patience,' a mini-doc about Philly survivor of Pulse nightclub shooting (Philly Voice) 

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Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
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