- Coming up on the Whitney Reynolds Show.

- And I hear the crack of the butt of AK-47 and putting a gun to my head and he screams at the driver to drive.

- That's Jess Buchanan's extreme survival story and today we sit down with her and learn about what this life-altering moment taught her and how she's taking others with her now with the lessons learned.

- No matter how this thing turns out, if they were to stop, take all my stuff, kick me out of the car and let me walk back to town, it doesn't matter, because from this moment on, everything has changed.

- The Whitney Reynolds Show is made possible by Together at Peace, a foundation supporting hopeful bereavement care for the world by inspiring people to find ways to live with honor and share the unique love they carry.

Spreading the light that still shines bright, Together at Peace.

Children's Learning Place, dedicated to empowering young students with the confidence to overcome present and future challenges, to promote a brighter future for all.

Kevin O'Connor Law Firm, when it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

JoePerillo.com, where you can browse their selection of pre-owned luxury vehicles, based in Chicago, shipping all over the country.

Simple Modern, drink ware with unique styles for adults and kids.

Take us with you.

The Adventures of Harry Moon book series for kids, focusing on becoming your best self, with themes of friendship, anti-bullying, and responsibility at HarryMoon.org.

Kevin Kelly, Fumee Claire, Midwest Moving & Storage, Mike Dyer, Brendan Studzinski and by these funders.

- Captured by pirates and held for ransom, that is Jessica Buchanan's extreme survival story.

And today we sit down with her and learn how that same survival is helping others carry through.

(applause) (bright music) (applause) - This is the story of Jessica Buchanan then- (broken up phone call) And now.

So I mean (indiscernible) again, small town, not a ton of expats working there.

I started teaching that moved into working with the Ministry of Education and creating curriculum in conjunction with the UN.

And then that led me to becoming the education advisor for the Danish Demining Group in armed violence reduction and mine risk education and community safety.

- Did you know at that point it was dangerous on a different level than Nairobi?

- Yes, absolutely.

Look at Somalia on a map, it's shaped like a seven and it's divided into three regions.

And we were up in the top of the seven in the northern part, and that was the safest part to be in.

And then you got down at the bottom, much, much less safe.

People live on less than a dollar a day.

They're nomadic.

- Did you know you were gonna be going out in the field?

- I did, I did and I was okay with that.

I had been asked to give a training in the southern part that I had mentioned earlier that was less safe.

And a good friend of mine that I'd worked with before Paul, an older Danish gentleman, was heading up the project down there and he asked me to come down and train his staff.

The last training that I canceled a bus full of women and children had been blown up by an opposing clan.

And I said, nope, I'm not going.

And then, you know, they would counter with, well, we're not the target.

You know, you're an expat, you're an aid worker.

- When I was learning about your story, one thing that I was surprised is that people call themselves pirates.

- So they started taking over these ships and holding them hostage.

They stopped pirating the waters and moved on to land and so they started taking aid workers out of refugee camps.

- She heard her inner voice, yet didn't listen.

A gut wrenching decision that she says forecasted her future.

Did you feel in your gut that morning something's not right?

- Absolutely.

I knew from the time I left Narisis something wasn't right.

That moment when I got up that morning, October 25th, 2011, I abandoned myself in my moment of deepest need.

I stood there looking at myself in the mirror and I said out loud to myself, Jess, do you want to do this?

And I knew the answer was no.

- She made it through that day and was headed back when her worst nightmare or vision came to life.

- We were done with the training.

I'd done the training.

- Oh, you made it?

- Yeah, I made it to the finish line.

- So then you're probably telling yourself- - Oh, it's three o'clock.

I am getting back in the convoy of vehicles.

And I text my husband some stupid joke that says, if I get kidnapped, will you come and get me?

Will you come and rescue me?

And he responds something like, ha ha, of course now just be safe and get back to the guest house.

And that's the last interaction we have.

- That is eerie.

- Yeah.

So we're in a convoy of three land cruisers and Paul and I are in the middle.

We have a driver and then the security advisor sitting in the back next to me and another vehicle comes roaring up on the right side of us.

I can tell that there are angry men yelling and it's getting closer.

And then it almost sounds like we're surrounded, like our vehicle is surrounded.

And then I hear the crack of the butt of an AK 47 on the car hood, like something just bam, bam, bam.

Abdi Reza is sitting on my right and his door is pulled open and there's a very angry, scary looking man wearing a police uniform and he's got an automatic weapon.

And he pulls Abdi Reza out of the car.

And I remember him hitting him in the head with the gun and then getting in next to me and putting the gun to my head.

And he screams at the driver to drive.

Like I'm 32 years old at this point.

Like what did I do wrong here?

I didn't even get a chance to become a mother.

And I think that this is it and there's this, I can feel the metal of the barrel of the gun against my head.

And I'm thinking, no matter how this thing turns out, if they were to stop, take all my stuff, kick me out of the car and let me walk back to town, it doesn't matter because from this moment on, everything has changed.

- Jess recounts being marched out to the desert and undergoing what she recalls as a mock execution.

Only 32 years old, this is when she was captured by pirates.

- Their demand started at $45 million dollars.

But our people, my organization, they had professional hostage negotiators who were coordinating with the FBI.

They countered at $20,000 dollars.

- Did they let you communicate to your husband or anybody else or was it just video?

- We had six proof of life calls throughout the course of the captivity.

I remember saying, I love you and I'm going to get through this.

- What did you say to yourself during those 12 hours a day?

- I mean, there were low, low moments, but there were also some really interesting opportunities for I think transformation.

So I'm stretching and then I remember sitting back down and leaning against this tree and I had this realization, didn't the Buddha reach enlightenment while he was sitting under a tree?

Maybe this is it.

Like maybe this is my ashram.

Maybe this is my holy place.

Like maybe this is an opportunity.

And it made all the difference in terms of my survival and really making some decisions about if I survive this and I move forward, I'm gonna do some things differently.

Things are gonna be different for me.

By the time we reached our last camp, I didn't know it was our last camp, we'd been there about a week and there were nine guys, nine of the pirates on the ground that night and every single one of them was completely passed out.

I picked up a small penlight that they had given me so I could go out into the bush in the middle of the night and see where I was going.

So I go, I do my thing, I come back to my mat, I wrap myself up in my blanket and then about literally like 30 seconds goes by and the pirate on my left, he was holding a firearm, which he didn't typically do and I could sense that he was terrified and he's like whisper screaming to all the other guys who were in the camp to wake up and then the night just erupts into automatic gunfire.

(gun shots) I can sense that there's somebody over here and I hear this young American man's voice and he knows my name and he says, Jessica, it's okay.

We're the American military.

We're here.

You're safe now and we're gonna take you home.

- There's a storyboard that brings to life the person.

They're not just a name on a card, they're not just a thing, they're a background.

A mom, a daughter, a son, a niece, a nephew.

You want to know this person.

You want to personalize that person with what you're about to put your life on the line for.

You know, nobody goes into the Seal Team for a paycheck.

They go in for it for the purpose of doing something good.

And when you have those kind of environments, though I never had that exact experience like what they had for Jessica, it is so unbelievably rewarding.

And you say, you know what, you can't paint me enough to do that and get that kind of experience.

- An extremely surreal ending to a story that could have been written for the movies.

Yet this experience created a new calling on Jess.

One that encompassed everything she had been through and the help she received, she now wanted to extend.

- All the while I was, you know, being asked to speak and share my story.

My husband and I wrote a book and it came out in 2013 that was really just have an account of what happened for our son.

And then I took a break from that for a while cuz I just couldn't, couldn't be the girl that was kidnapped and I needed to find myself again.

We all have a story of survival.

- Jess has moved forward, yet her past has impacted her present and even motivated her to write a book with women who might also feel trapped and wanted to share their stories of moving forward.

We sat down with one of them to hear her courageous story.

She gave you this space to feel empowered.

- Absolutely.

- By what you've been through.

- Yep, absolutely.

My story is really one of belonging.

And so throughout my life, that theme of belonging has really stood out for me.

And that's kind of where this chapter came in, was with this theme of belonging.

Whether it was like as a native woman not feeling like I was either too native or not native enough when it came to that community.

- When you say native, your parents and your siblings, they looked native?

- Yes, yeah.

So both of my parents dark hair, dark, dark eyes.

I'm the middle child, you know, both of my siblings, dark hair, dark eyes.

And then there's me and I came out blonde hair, blue eyes.

- In your family did they do stuff with a Native American community?

- Sometimes yeah.

So we grew up going to powwows and things like that.

We did not grow up on our reservation.

So I'm what many call an urban Indian.

So I grew up in an urban community.

The older I got, the more I felt included.

So it really wasn't until I went to college and got involved in the native community that I really started to feel like I belonged.

Like people weren't judging me and asking me questions right, that were offensive because it was very common for people to be like, well how much Indian are you?

- Oh man.

- Right?

And I'm just like, whoa.

Like I'm an enrolled member of my tribe and blood quantum shouldn't matter.

- Tell us about how that impacted your next chapter.

- And so at 21 years old, where do I go?

I go to parties to find that connection, right?

So I was at a party and see this cute guy there and he just kind of tells me everything I wanted to hear in my drunken stupor, right?

And you know, we start hanging out more.

We become boyfriend girlfriend.

And that sort of need for me to belong led me to stay in an abusive relationship for over a year.

- How did you eventually get the courage to leave that situation?

- He'd been cheating on me for months and I didn't know.

And then seeing that was just like, I can't do this anymore.

But it wasn't just, I can't do this relationship anymore, it was I can't do life anymore.

And so once you know that I left that situation, like I made up my mind that I was done with everything, with life.

- You had checked out.

- Yep, I was like, I'm done.

It was so ingrained in me that no one could love me, that I wasn't worth anything and no one would mind if I was gone.

- So as you were in this moment, you still did not realize how much you needed to fight for yourself.

What got you to the point of this shift of I am not just a survivor of domestic abuse, but I'm survived past what I thought I would do to myself?

- Right.

I think that really hit me when, so I was arrested right afterwards, sent to this mental health.

- Tell us about that.

So you were arrested, but not because you committed a crime, but because you were going to potentially harm yourself.

- Yes.

So I had a taser on me at the time, which my father had given to me for personal protection and I never used it, but because I had a taser on me at the time, I was deemed as someone who could harm themselves.

And so I was arrested for 5150 for being a danger to myself, put in a cell for a bit while the ambulance comes, picks me up and takes me to this mental health institution.

And this nurse comes out and this nurse changed my life.

She pulls me aside and it's just her and I talking and she's like just so sweet and so gentle and it's just like tell me what happened to you.

And I don't know what it was, but like I just unloaded everything.

Like all the sexual abuse, all the physical abuse, all the emotional abuse and verbal abuse that I went through.

And I'm just telling her all this stuff and she just looks at me and she's like, oh my God.

Like, you know, you're up here and he's down here and he does not deserve you.

You are so much better than him.

And that's when she looked at me and she was just like, sweetie, you are gonna stand as a symbol of women empowerment.

I sought out therapy afterwards.

I also went on medication for my depression and anxiety and it was absolutely life changing for me.

- It's amazing that unloading your story could be that pivotal point that switched your whole life around.

- Yeah, exactly.

I mean once unloading it right and hearing her say those words to me, it was like, wow, I can be somebody, right?

Like I'm not worthless like I am enough, right?

And so it was just that shift, right?

And so I even have a tattoo of the word empowerment on my arm so that when I flex my arm, you see empowerment every day.

And it was like that promise to myself that I am going to be a symbol of woman empowerment.

Even if in that moment I didn't feel like I was yet right, but it was that promise to myself that I was going to be.

- In Jessica's chapter, you're very vulnerable with your story.

What gave you the power to reshare it on a platform like that?

- Ugh, Jess.

(laughing) Yeah, I mean I had kind of always kept the stories to myself, not many people knew it.

And just seeing her share her story so openly and it was just so inspiring to me.

I was like, I can do that.

And just her constant cheerleading while I was writing my chapter was just cuz it was tough.

Like I was reliving those moments.

I mean there were times where I would just sit there and cry while I was writing my chapter, but it was very freeing for me because I had kept this to myself for so long and a lot of this would haunt me in my dreams over the years and now that I've shared it, I feel like just such a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I don't feel like haunted by it anymore.

It's very much like, wow, it's out there now.

- Shayna's whole story is found in Jessica Buchanan's recent book, Deserts to Mountaintops.

This book includes 22 women's voices and their unique journey from the desert of self abandonment to the mountaintop of self-love.

- Am I still that same person?

I don't think so.

And I think there's parts of me that are still the same, but for the most part I've just evolved and I've grown and I couldn't be the version of myself that I am now if I hadn't gone through that, I wouldn't wanna do it again.

Yeah, but I'm grateful for it now.

- Survival is in the mission of the Whitney Reynolds Show and for over a decade we've told these stories.

Let's take a look.

- I was visiting a cousin up in the north suburbs.

I just happened to go visit her.

And as I was leaving is when two women approached me and held me at gunpoint and assaulted me with acid.

So it was the second time that I sustained my injuries.

I ended up getting burned 30% of my body, third degree full thickness.

- What is your life like?

- What is my life like now?

Now I'm in a very good space.

Fortunately, I received mental health services, lots of support from my family.

I've been able to tell my story on my own terms and that's been really therapeutic for me.

- The reason he ended up going to the doctor is because he actually had a really persistent cough.

And so when he went in for the cough and then talked about other things happening, like the weakness in his left hand and arm, that's when the doctor suggested that he go see a neurologist.

- And at that point, did you connect any dots to potentially being ALS?

- I mean, at that point, no, because what you see with ALS is progression takes place over time.

So the impact you're hearing my voice, the impact you're see in my hands, that didn't occur for a year.

- It's a terminal illness right now and this doctor at the time gave us some misinformation, which is that he said it, Brian, it's possible that you have six months to live.

In reality after diagnosis patients typically live two to five years.

But either way, very difficult news.

And that was the day we brought our second daughter home from the hospital after giving birth.

And so we had in the house a six day old baby and a two year old.

- Part of what helped me kind of restore my life was going back to the things that made you feel normal.

As we're working through that as a family, as we're trying to see what we can do to actually treat this thing and see if we can find a way to actually accelerate the fight that's when we started thinking about could we do more?

Is there more that we can do given what we've been lucky enough to be part of and what we could bring to the fight.

- It was just not a matter of if he was going to do it, it was when he was going to do it and September 21st became that day for my family.

Unfortunately, he shot him.

The coroner sat at a minimum of 10 times.

But because Colt was so little and his skull was so fragile, it was hard for them.

But they had 10 traces where they could actually see entrances and exits in my son's 18 month old skull.

You know?

But this isn't going to be what I'm defined as.

What I'm going to define myself as a survivor, being the voice of victims who weren't able to tell their story because they died at the hands of the abuser.

They're not forgotten.

And I promise that I will be their voice for as long as God lets me have this second voice.

- Hey Nick, it's Ken Kale.

I've been hearing that you've been getting picked at school for quite some while, but I just wanna tell you that no matter what you wanna do, no matter what your dreams are, you will accomplish 'em if you work really hard and you believe and you will make it because in the future the kids there are picking at you at school will apologize and actually kiss up to you.

So I know from experience, but just to tell you that keep on, you know, keep on working hard, keep on praying to God that it will happen one day and unexpectedly your dreams will come true and you'll be on top of the world.

So can't wait to see you on top of the world.

- Jessica Buchanan is a reminder that we can survive despite the circumstance, even when it seems like all is lost.

Remember, your story matters.

(calm music) - The Whitney Reynolds show is made possible by Together at Peace, a foundation supporting hopeful bereavement care for the world by inspiring people to find ways to live with honor and share the unique love they carry, spreading the light that still shines bright, Together at Peace.

Children's Learning Place, dedicated to empowering young students with the confidence to overcome present and future challenges to promote a brighter future for all.

Kevin O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Joeperillo.com, where you can browse their selection of pre-owned luxury vehicles based in Chicago, shipping all over the country.

Simple Modern, drink ware with unique styles for adults and kids.

Take us with you, the Adventures of Harry Moon book series for Kids, focusing on becoming your best self with themes of friendship, anti-bullying and responsibility at harrymoon.org.

Kevin Kelly, Fume Claire, Midwest Moving and Storage, Mike Dyer, Brendan Studunski, and by these funders.

- Want more stories like you heard today, get caught up on the Whitney Reynolds Show's current season.

Are you still creating music?

- Absolutely, yeah.

I think the core, again, it all feeds back into the music.

You know, how can I improve this?

But then how can I challenge myself to think outside the musical box, you know?

And what does that look like?

What does it look like for a rapper to now design a space?

- My identity was rooted in being a wife and mother.

When that like broke apart, it just felt like I lost my identity.

I didn't know who I was, I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

- Well and at this point you said like Real Housewives was not even a thing for you to even think about.

- I mean Whitney, Real Housewives wasn't even a thing when after I had filmed the Sizzle Reel, I thought, I still can't do it.

I can pretend that I'm gonna be a housewife, but if they really cast me, I'm gonna have to walk away.

- I think we all, when we're young, at a very early age, we know what we wanna do, but it kind of gets beaten out of us, or we talk ourselves out of it cuz it just doesn't seem like a reality.

But why not you for that thing?

So just take little steps.

You don't have to jump from the ground floor to the top floor in, you know, one fell swoop.

No, you have to take the steps and take just a few steps every day.

- It was then that the reality really sunk in for me that the family was gone, we were fractured.

The relationship with my father had started to crumble at that point and you know, I was still trying to navigate what kind of relationship I could still have with him.

We really uncovered that my father had a double life, complete shock cuz it shattered the image you had of who your father was and the relationship you thought you had with this man, this individual who had been a really big part of our lives.

- And I was like, I'm sick of the movies I've been making.

I need something different.

And so I called him up, it lifted me out of that hole.

Like I think when people think when they hear about this movie, oh, it's gonna be a sad movie about a guy with Parkinson's.

It's absolutely not that movie.

It's an uplifting story about this guy, he drops out of high school, moves to LA, he's like really short.

No one thinks he's gonna do anything, becomes the biggest movie star in America.

- This whole idea that we may not be all of our information, may not be safe.

And you know how we kind of go into it thinking that we're protected and we're not.

And so this I thought was a really fun way to kind of scare people into knowing that their health information, that they might actually unwillingly be just giving it out to the internet.

- That what you wanna do is like connect with everybody.

- Yeah, absolutely.

This is not a faith show.

We think of this as a historical fiction show.

- Wow.

- Like other shows, other genre shows.

- Right.

- You know?

It just so happens that one of the central characters in our show is the father of Christianity.

- For more information on today's program, visit whitneyreynolds.com or get social with us.

Facebook, Whitney Reynolds Show.

Twitter, Whitney Reynolds or on TikTok and Instagram, Whitney-_Reynolds.