Adrianne Haslet
Before & After with Lester Holt
In this episode of Before & After, Lester Holt interviews ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet about the life-altering 2013 Boston Marathon bombi
Key takeaways
- Adrianne Haslet lost part of her left leg during the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
- She describes the psychological impact of limb loss as being 'the closest you'll ever get to mourning your own death.'
Main topics
- Boston Marathon bombing aftermath
- Physical rehabilitation and prosthetics
Notable quotes
Losing a limb is the closest you'll ever get to mourning your own death.
Conclusion
A profound look at how extreme trauma and the uncovering of painful an
Transcript preview
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Speaker 3 (1:02) I saw nothing but gray smoke. And I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't hear anything. It was like my senses were all gone. Were Speaker 6 (1:09) you aware of how messed up you were? Speaker 3 (1:12) Yeah, I was. I didn't think I was going to live. Speaker 1 (1:19) There are moments that divide a life into before and after. For Adrienne Haslett, that moment came on April 15, 2013, at the Boston Marathon. Adrienne was 32 years old, a professional ballroom dancer who had built her life around movement. She'd been watching marathon runners cross the finish line when two homemade bombs exploded, pressure cookers full of shrapnel. Speaker 1 (1:50) Adrian was just feet away. She lost half her leg and she nearly died. Speaker 3 (1:56) I called home and I said goodbye to my parents. It was the hardest, most awful goodbye I ever had. In Speaker 1 (2:02) the years since, Adrian has told her story. But there was one part she always left out. I can Speaker 3 (2:10) admit now that I white lied, not because I was trying to be deceitful, but because I wasn't ready. Speaker 1 (2:14) It's Speaker 3 (2:15) a Speaker 1 (2:15) secret Adrian has kept for more than two decades. As she lay on that sidewalk, she thought of one person, someone who would inspire her fight to survive. Now, Adrian is finally ready to tell that story. Here is my conversation with Adrian Haslett about her before and after. Speaker 2 (2:41) I have a service dog, Fred Astaire. Oh, do you? Yeah, and he's here, but he's with a friend of mine. So I thought Fred would be too noisy. He'd be sniffing. What kind of dog? He's an Australian Labradoodle. Oh, that's right. I have one of those. No way. Oh, Lester, see? You're the best. I knew you were a great guy. She gives me hugs Speaker 6 (2:57) every day before I go to work. What's her Speaker 2 (2:58) name? Speaker 6 (2:59) Lucy. Speaker 2 (2:59) Oh, I could do an eight-hour podcast about how much I love Fred, but no one would listen. Speaker 6 (3:03) We're going Speaker 2 (3:03) to do Speaker 6 (3:03) the Fred podcast. Adrienne, thank you for being here. Speaker 3 (3:09) Thank you, Lester, for having me. It's an honor to sit down with you. Speaker 6 (3:11) Oh, man, what a story you've got. But I want to start in the present, if I can. Speaker 2 (3:16) Yeah. You Speaker 6 (3:17) are Speaker 2 (3:17) still a ballroom dancer? I still do ballroom dancing in my kitchen and still with friends, definitely. But I'm no longer a professional ballroom dancer. Speaker 6 (3:25) Was it part of your identity? I mean, did you identify yourself as a ballroom dancer? Speaker 2 (3:29) Oh, without question. I said it all the time. I mean, my gosh, as soon as the bomb went off and I was on the sidewalk, I was saying I was a ballroom dancer. That was one of, not the first thing out of my mouth. You're Speaker 6 (3:40) saying that in terms of, oh my God, I've lost, potentially lost my ability. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:44) That's a great question, actually. I don't know how much I've thought about that. I think I wanted them to know so that they knew how important my feet are. And I wanted people to know that. So if there was a chance they could save me, they could. I mean, if you think about your voice, you know, and you being able to do what you do, you know, to have someone take away your foot is my pen, my paintbrush, you know. For decades, I traveled the globe and competed and danced and taught. And when Speaker 6 (4:13) you're a high achiever, you tend to put everything in that basket. This is what I do. Speaker 3 (4:18) Absolutely. I mean, I missed weddings and funerals and births of loved ones and family members and missed, you know, all of that, Thanksgivings. And I was, for the most part of what I did, I was living in Boston, but my entire family and most of my support system lived in Seattle area. And so I wouldn't fly home because if I had time to take time off, then my competition would be doing better. Speaker 6 (4:40) You got me hooked now. What did it feel like when you were ballroom dancing? Speaker 3 (4:44) Oh Speaker 2 (4:44) my gosh. We have this term that says I could make corner to corner in four or three. And that basically means I could make it from this corner into the listeners. I'm pointing to the corner of the room, to the opposite corner of the room in three steps or four steps. And that just showed how strong your feet were. So the muscles in your feet that you could glide on your heel or your... your toe and push off in a way that you could really move. It felt like you were flying. There is nothing in the world like walking into a room and grabbing another professional dancer and turning on your favorite song. And within 30 seconds, maybe 15 even, you could feel better about anything that's happening in the world. There are rare things that can do that rather than dance. Speaker 6 (5:23) So you know where we're going to go here. I want to talk about the bombing. Tell me about that day. You started out, you got up. And tell me about the day. Speaker 3 (5:33) Yeah, got up. I took a day off. It was a rare day off for me. And I made coffee and I decided I wanted to take a walk and go out to lunch on a rare day off. Wait a minute. Speaker 6 (5:46) Were you not aware that there Speaker 2 (5:47) was a marathon going on? I didn't remember. And that's not why you went for a walk. Gosh, no. People who take four hours getting ready with bronzer and nails and lashes and hair and the Oompa Loompa tan and all of that don't. you know, spend time with runners who sweat in public. Like, it's just not what we do. Our paths don't cross very often. I'd been in Boston for years, but didn't even know it was a thing. And I went to lunch and it was a beautiful spring day after the long Speaker 3 (6:12) Boston winter. And got done with lunch and walked outside and I heard all this screaming and cheering from one street over and I thought it was a parade. Speaker 3 (6:23) And I walked over and I saw a lot of people running and they had these paper, these paper sort of Speaker 2 (6:29) things pinned to their chest and their stomach. Their numbers. Yeah, I now know that's called a bib, a racing bib. And I tapped a guy on the shoulder and he turned around and he looked at me. And Lester, I had like this, my signature look for competing then was this like curly faux hawk that was like on top of maybe three or four inches on top of my head. And he looked at me up and down and I had. like three and a half inch heels on. And this guy's looking at me like, who is this? Because everybody else was in kicks. And I said, what are they, what is this? Is this a parade? And he said, it's the Boston Marathon. And he said, how could you visit here and not know that it's the Boston Marathon? And I said, oh no, no, I just live like five or six blocks that way. And he must've thought I was crazy. This guy's Speaker 6 (7:14) incredulous. Speaker 2 (7:15) Yeah, yeah, yeah. He just. thinks I'm crazy and he turns back around like I'm not going to talk to this woman anymore. But I decided to stay and watch a little bit. And I was watching at the finish line and I saw people puking and passing out and things that happen at the end of a race. And so I decided to walk away from the finish line and walk about two or three blocks down the street. And I Speaker 3 (7:37) had my back to the finish line and I heard a giant, enormous boom and blast. Speaker 3 (7:47) and the ground shook, and I looked behind me, and it was just, it was nothing but black smoke everywhere. And then I saw police with their guns drawn, and some runners were down, and everyone was down. And I remember yelling, the next one's going to hit, which is wild, because I certainly didn't know what was happening. I said, the next one's going to hit, and I put my fingers in my ear. It went off almost immediately after I put my fingers in my ears. And then I was on the ground, and I... I remember it was, I saw nothing but gray smoke. And I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't hear anything. It was like my senses were all gone. I didn't know if I was alive or dead. Speaker 6 (8:35) You were really close to the... I was Speaker 3 (8:37) two feet away from the blast. Yeah. Speaker 6 (8:40) And if I recall, the pressure cooker had been filled with shrapnel. Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:46) Yeah, it was. Do I Speaker 6 (8:47) recall that Speaker 3 (8:47) correctly? Yeah, it was filled with screws and nails and things that Speaker 1 (8:52) would... Speaker 3 (8:52) Things meant to kill and maim. Kill and maim, yeah. Yeah, it was. It was filled with things that would fly through the air and hurt people and maim people. And it did. I smelled