Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20170322

Adam and eve had a lot of trouble in paradise, but now one author says the secret to a happy marriage may actually be hidden in the oldest love story in the book. But first here tonight, the nightline 5. And number one is coming up good evening, and we begin here with an extraordinary family drama. It involves a mom in detroit with a transgender daughter. While watching her boy transition into a girl, this mother says she realized that slee was, in fact, a man. So this is now a household with two transgender family members and they say at the heart of this family is a marriage that is growing stronger. Heres my nightline coanchor juju chang. Reporter at just 15, cory masons bravely sharing her transition from male to female. I feel like a princess. Reporter she made this video to combat bullying and it went viral. I know what im doing, and i feel like its the right thing to do, stop and help people. Reporter now she and her family are sharing more of their personal journey with the public. Corys mother transitioning too from erica to eric. After a lifestyle of living as a woman, marrying and having five kids, eric began his transition a year ago. I will never forget the first joseph hormones that i took, it was like this overwhelming sense of calm and peace just came over me that i had never experienced in my life. I was like, wow, this is what normal feels like. Theres me and mom. Reporter eric says he was inspired by his own daughters bravery. And for almost two years now, the two have been sharing their transition from mother and son, to father and daughter. So you two draw inspiration and support from each other, dont you . What was it like watching her walk this walk . Just seeing her and her bravery, just gave me the strength and courage to come out as well, and face the world as my true self. What goes through your mind when you hear eric talk about you as a hero to him . I feel like ive done my part and helped him through his journey as hes helped me. That, i think, was probably one ever the hardest things too. Al friends would tell me, youre so beautiful, you have this beautiful body, i would kill for your body. Im like, i would kill for not this body. Reporter just four weeks ago, eric unchdr underwent a double mastectomy. I was overcome with emotion. I didnt expect for it to hit me that hard. I was like, there i am, thats me. This cant have been easy on your marriage . At first, i think the biggest struggle was top surgery, for my husband, especially. Because he loved my body. As much as i hated it, he loved it. And at first, i think he struggled with it, but he said, this is what will make you happy. So who am i to keep your happiness from you . Reporter it was eric who encouraged corey to find her happiness, which is on clear display in this video, when she received her first dose of hormones. Do you know what that is . Reporter true emotion, garnering more than seven million views. Do you know what that is . The day you started hormones. First day of my life. Why . Because thats when ito tran. I could proceed with what i would like to do. Whats the best part of being a girl for you . Dressing up in heels, dressing and going to dances. Reporter but she says the life changes have been anything but easy. Some of her peers taunted her. I would get spit on and shoved, called names. One person told me i should just go and kill myself because oh, im sorry. He said that no one would miss me in and that i shouldnt be here, theres no place for mebe. Reporter but she didnt let it stop her. Last year, anthem gaining more than 300,000 views on youtube. Raising awareness against bullying, something she says shes experienced plenty of. She said she was inspired by another transgender girl, jazz jennings, the now reality star, one of the youngest girls to have transitioned publicly. She spoke to abcs barbara walters. There are some transgender children that have not been able to be transgender. And even want to die. I want to help those kids become the person they are. We watched a video of jazz jennings, and i told my mom, im just like her at the end. I realized that oh my gosh, this is also me as well, but i cant think of that right now, i have to focus on my daughter. Reporter it was so important for eric to be supportive of his daughter, because eric himself struggled in silence for decades, trying to come to terms with his own identity. It was difficult for me with my parents. I said, mom, im just like corey, i was born basically in the wrong body. And she said, how come i never saw this when you were a kid . I said, mom, if you remember the fights we had and the things i asked for on my Christmas Wish list. And she said, oh, i guess that makes sense. Is that repression, is that denial . I think its denial. In that generation. It is a fair question, how could you not have known . Because i was not educated on what being transgender meant. If they would have said, this is what being transgender means, youre born with this anatomy and your brain does not identify with that, i think a lot of years ago i would have made that connection. Reporter today 1. 4 million adults identify as transgender. But 18 to 24yearolds are more likely to go public than their older counterparts. Whats unclear is how common it is for two people in one family to transition. Dr. Lauren schecter performed erics mastectomy, he specialized in the gender confirmation surgery. In my practice, this is the first time that ive cared for a parent, or i should say a family whos got both a parent and a child who are transitioning. What i think is unique to some degree for eric and their family is the supportive nature of the family. Reporter despite transitioning, eric says his kids still call him mom. I think that mom is an earned title. I feel like i gave birth to them, i nurtured them, i comfort them. Im there for them and have been. I feel like, you dont necessarily have to be female to be mom. Whats it like to watch eric go through that transition . It was very cool, but there was kind of a sense of loss a little bit too. Reporter erics husband says having a spouse transition raises a lot of new questions. Number one, for me, does this make me gay . No. Does it mean anything between my spouse and my thing as far as our relationship is concerned . No, it doesnt. It made it better. Reporter he told me that erics transition has ultimately strengthened the marriage. A lot of spouses might think, this is is a deal breaker for me. But for you it isnt . Its not about the shell that you walk around in, its about the person that you are, its about the person that i fell in love with tenplus years ago. And because that person now presents themselves in a different way, doesnt change how i feel. My husband is truly an amazing soul. Looking at my life now and the blessings that i have, five beautiful children and a beautiful husband, i think if i could do it again, i would not do anything differently. What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin, in your own body . I can be who i want to be, inside and out. And i can show the world that no matter what, i can do this without you or with you. Reporter for nightline, im juju chang in new baltimore, michigan. Next here, the new extreme vacation destination, where you can shoot up a minivan with a world war ii era tank. Left thel after a dvt blood clot, i sure had a lot to think about. What about the people i care about . Including this little girl. And what if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i asked my doctor. And he recommended eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Both made me turn around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis the right treatment for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Because my teeth are yellow. These photos . Why dont you use a whitening toothpaste . Im afraid its bad for my teeth. Try crest 3d white. Crest 3d White Diamond strong toothpaste and rinse. Gently whiten. And fortify weak spots. Use together for two times stronger enamel. Crest 3d white. Its the simple things in life that mean the most. Boost® simply complete™. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners, plus 10 grams of protein and 25 vitamins minerals. It doesnt get better than this. Boost® simply complete™. Im good. . I just took new mucinex clear and cool. Whats this sudden cooooling thing happening . Its got a menthol burst. You can feel it right away. New mucinex clear cool. Feel the menthol burst. While powerful medicine clears your worst cold symptoms. Lets end this. It is spring break time, and this year, some families are skipping the beach, skipping the museum, and they are instead bonding over blowing stuff up and crushing things with a tank. Heres abcs clayton sandell. Reporter ah, spring break, a time for debauchery and excess. With that traditional mashup of booze and beaches seen here in the movie spring breakers. But deep in the heart of texas, theyre heating up spring break a little differently, by basically going to war. At this 18,000acre ranch, two hours west of san antonio, we found drive tanks. Com, where you can play army for real. Taking control of real tanks on battlefields with special effects right out of saving private ryan. Right here, we have the russian ak47. Reporter john and patty brought their son, a tank buff, and his pal eeth than. So you love tanks . Yes. Its world war ii stuff. Any kind of history, so here we are. Reporter drive tanks. Com is the brain child of todd, a former houston cop and green beret. We have all kinds of guns from around the world and every period. Reporter his collection sits in what looks like a prop warehouse for a rambo movie. This tank here is a british chieftain tank and it would have served all the way through the first gulf war. This is a scorpion, cool tank. One of the features its small. We call it our baby tank. Reporter none of it is cheap. Ive always wanted to say this. Say hello to my little friend. Reporter this flamethrower sets you back with 300 bucks. Flattening a car, thats 1,000. For one group, their day the sky was the limit. Their day was a 30,000 day. 30,000, driving tanks . Thats everything we had. Reporter frank wong and his family came from katie, texas, to drive a tank. We saw the Youtube Video online. Really exciting. Never shot a tank before. As you can see, the tanks reporter after a quick briefing. How about we crush a car . Lets do it. Reporter they get ready to live out every rush hour commuters fantasy. Were going to put a grope row in the back, so you can see what it looks like from the inside. Dont tell the bosses. It survived. It made it. What was it like . It was amazing. Well, it feels like the egg basically crushing. Like an egg . Yeah. Reporter the companys crown jewel is this 1944 sherman tank, the same type brad pitt made famous in fury. Youre going to let me drive this thing . Absolutely. What were going to do next, im going to get in there and get you some basic skills, so you can drive it. Ill be next to you. If you get too out of control, well cut her off. But i think youre going to do great. Stick or automatic . Its stick. Okay. Were in trouble. Reporter i slowly roll it out. And head right into a milelong war zone. Reporter after escaping upriver and dodging machine gun sniper on a hill, its back to base. That was absolutely amazing. And so smooth, really. Yeah, i think that you cant help to bring your mind back to the guys that were driving it back in world war ii. Reporter this is the only place in the world you can fire a sherman tank, and theyre not using blanks. Solid steel, 14 and a half pound projectile at over 2,500 feet per second. Reporter the companys weapons and explosives are closely regulated by the atf. You want to make sure the bad guys dont get their hands on this stuff . Absolutely. We have amazing security. We have armed guards that are within 30 seconds from the building. Reporter finally, 12yearold josh gets his chance to pull the shermans trigger, first on the 50 caliber machine gun. How was that . It was very invigorating and fun. Here we go, time for the main gun. Got the earplugs in. Were ready. Three, two, one, fire in the hole reporter his shot slices through the minivan like butter. Fire in the hole. Worth it . Absolutely. Definitely worth it. Reporter as spring breaks go, josh and ethan think this one was right on target. Ive seen amusement parks and roller coasters and stuff, but this is nothing compared to that. For nightline, im clayton sandell. Next, how the story of adam and eve can teach you to love your spouse like he or she is the only other human on earth. 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Teeth inside, and is better at strengthening the. Outside than colgate total. Best checkup ever. Theres work to be done. Its not going to be easy but theres grit inside of you. And if you need extra motivation the grad fund at Strayer University can help push you forward. Because up to your last year of classes could be on us. Thats right. On us. Today is the day. Strayer university. Lets get it, america. Everybody knows the story of adam and eve, but youve probably never heard it like this before. How the oldest story in the book may help improve your relationship. Heres abcs david wright on a fascinating new book. Got me looking so crazy right now reporter queen bee and jayz didnt just invent crazy in love. They are the latest in a long list of couples, real and imagined, who have inspired us, and confounded us, all the way back to adam and eve. You see this as a love story . Oh, i think its absolutely a love story. Reporter author bruce filer hopes to redeem the original sinners who tasted the forbidden fruit and were cast out of the garden of eden. This is everything but a happy ever after story. Well its the devin 95 not happily ever after story. Its about forgiveness and resilience, they must stay together. Thats the core message of the story. Reporter filer, author of the best story, walking the bible, has spent his career examining the bible. Eve especially, victims of the greatest character assassination ever. Im like, can this first relationship tell us something about relationships today . As absurd as it sounds, can adam and eve be the role models that were looking for . Filers book has even inspired an adam and eve approach to couples therapy with the help of marriage counsellors. You never hear anybody talk about just adam or just eve. Its always adam and eve. Reporter the idea being, to help people get past the blame game, and face lifes challenges together. In a relationship, i guess comparing to adam and eve, as you reference, youre in a team, and win or lose, you win or lose together. Often times, theres a discussion about culpability or fault. And i think more than anything, thats just something that has no place in a relationship. Because at the end of the day, the consequence is shared. Reporter after adam and eve were banished from eden, they stuck together. And the two walk out of paradise hand in hand toward a far happier place. Hand in hand with wondering steps and slow exactly. So i think, again, there you see what love really is. Its this mix of independence. Theyre walking off into the sunset