Open to military brats, hosted by beautiful twin sisters. They wanted to be seen, and they worked hard at it. A peek into the parties where the military met millionaires, and jill kelley. When i first saw this, my natural reaction was this was like the kardashians take tampa. The latest on the petraeus scandal. Nothing else matters than your babies. She is the glamorous mom on tvs gossip girl. But separated, an ocean away from her two Young Children. Its crazy. This isnt happening. Its hard for you to even believe its real. Kelly rutherfords emotional battle. And it happened in a heartbeat. I just kept saying, oh, my god. A young woman steps out of a plane into a spinning propeller and lives. Did you see the propeller . I dont remember. I literally just remember climbing out of the plane and touching the ground. Tonight, in her first prime time interview, Lauren Scruggs tells her amazing story. You can move the fingers, Different Directions. And what she found. I dont think i would trade that. Welcome to dateline im lester holt. Its the kind of accident people dont usually survive, but Lauren Scruggs did. You probably remember when it happened. Lauren, a Young Fashion writer, stepped off a small airplane and right into the blades of a spinning propeller. Miraculously, less than a year later, here she is, in her first prime time interview, a dateline exclusive. Lauren and her family take us back to that terrible night and through her incredible recovery. Here is natalie morales. Reporter just a year ago, Lauren Scruggs future was bright. The beautiful girl her friends called lolo had big plans and even bigger dreams, as she pursued a career in fashion. I am Lauren Scruggs with lolo mag. At 23, she started lolo magazine, a website covering beauty, fitness and fashion around the world. Hi, im Lauren Scruggs and were excited to be here today at new york fashion week. Reporter lauren grew up in dallas, texas. Her parents divorced when she was young, but would later remarry after seven years apart. Their experience inspired their work today as marriage counselors. Their greatest joy, twin daughters, brittney and lauren. Laurens father, jeff, says lauren always sparkled. Theres a spirit about her that is just its contagious. That shes just so full of life. Reporter but in one awful moment last december, everything changed for lauren and her family. Its the subject they write about in a book, still lolo about their familys journey. They took us back to the night the accident happened, a night that was supposed to have been so much fun for lauren and her mother, cheryl. We had gone to church, lauren and i, and just went to some friends for dinner afterwards, like we always do. They live on an airport, so we ate dinner and they decided they were going to do some, you know, recreational flying, go look at Christmas Lights and everything. Reporter its common in this neighborhood around the airport where people share a passion for planes. All of a sudden, i hear someone running, and i just kind of looked up and she was bolted through the door, and she said lauren has been hit by the propeller and i just stood there and i didnt know what she was saying at first. And i just said what are you talking about . And she said lauren has been hit by the propeller, we have to call 911. A girl walked into an airplane prop, i need an ambulance immediately. Where are you, maam . 230 aero country in mckinney. Reporter lauren exited the plane, just like this one, while the engine was still running. The propeller, still spinning. At first, she walked towards the rear of the plane. But then, doubled back to the front, a fateful choice. Laurens father was at home when the phone rang. It was our friend calling me and telling me that lauren had been in this horrible accident. I just kept saying, oh, my god, oh, my god. And i was crying, lord, please save her life. Reporter as jeff raced to the hospital, lauren lay on the tarmac, fighting for her life. And cheryl faced a mothers worst nightmare. I could see the plane, and then i could can see lauren just lying facedown. And, you know, all i had at that point was prayer. Thats all i could do. I wasnt really sure what was happening. I didnt know if she was alive. And i couldnt see where the blood was coming from. She was lying in a big pool of blood. And i could see her hair down the back of her. You couldnt see her face or how bad it was yet . And all i could do was just cry out to god and just say, god, just save her life. Thats all i had. Reporter paramedics on the scene feared lauren would not live. Her injuries were massive. The prop had struck her across her left side, slicing open her skull, ripping through her eye, and severing her hand. She was medevaced to parkland memorial hospital. Orthopedic surgeon adam star was in the e. R. That night. She was really severely injured. She had an open Skull Fracture with trauma to her brain and chest injury, fractures of her clavicle, her ribs, open shoulder joint, and then a wrist amputation. So she was a bangedup kid. Reporter six surgeons operated for more than ten hours to save laurens life. Friends and family kept vigil, praying through the night. By morning, it was clear, lauren would survive. But tough questions followed. So at that point in time, you knew she was stabilized, but you were concerned that she might not be the same lauren, right . They told us warned us there was a potential that she wouldnt have the same personality. And that she may not be able to form a sentence. Reporter she might have trouble with words and speaking. Just she might not be the same person. Reporter with major brain and eye injuries, and a lost hand, lauren had a long road ahead towards a new normal. More difficult and, as it would turn out, more rewarding than she had imagined. 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Hellmanns and holiday leftovers become irresistibly creamy turkey casserole. Real delicious hellmanns. Bring out the hellmanns. Bring out the best. Real delicious hellmanns. You ari cant see. Ooh, turn up the brightness. Its already up. Oh, oh, ooh sorrry buddy, you know, some of us destroy zombies and some of us feed em. How am i suppose to win . Your screen is like as big as my phone. Not everythings about winning. I like to win. You like to whine. You do. Vo the bigger, brighter super amoled screen on the new Samsung Galaxy s3. Fashion writer Lauren Scruggs had survived being struck by an airplane propeller, but as she came to in the hospital, she didnt know how lucky she had been. Your first memory of waking up, what do you remember . I just remember being in my bed in the hospital and saying why am i here . Reporter laurens twin sister brittney and her sisters husband, sean, rarely left her side. Lauren was heavily medicated, and struggled to understand. Feeling a phantom pain in her left hand. She kept saying, will you please uncross my fingers . And i would just say, okay, well, let me come over there and ill tell you again what had happened, because remember that your hand is not really there, but it feels like its there. Reporter doctors warned, lauren could be in the hospital for months. Her outcome unclear. But with a fierce determination to recover and live her life again, she left the hospital after just three weeks, making it home in time for christmas. And now, in her first prime time interview, lauren tells her story about the night of the accident. Your father said perhaps you went back to thank the pilot or something to that effect. Do you think that was what you were trying to do in that moment . I dont think i was going back to thank him, because i thanked him in the plane. Reporter describe the tarmac for me, too. As i understand, it was pitchblack. It was pretty dark. It was. It was dark and rainy outside, and kind of foggy. Reporter did you see the propeller . I dont remember. I just i literally just remember climbing out of the plane and touching the ground and that was it. Reporter you know, you unfortunately have had to endure people who question whether or not you had been drinking that night. Right. Reporter to walk into a propeller. I know i wasnt drinking, and that wasnt that kind of gettogether or party or anything like that. So it doesnt bother me. I know whats true. Reporter the preliminary ntsb report states that the pilot instructed lauren to walk behind the plane. Lauren says she simply does not remember that. Do you blame him for this . No. I just think its an accident that has happened, and i dont blame anyone through it. Reporter the first time you looked at yourself in the mirror, after the accident, what did you see . I think i just saw the reality of what had happened, and i had my eye patch on, and i didnt have my hand, and half my head was shaved, and i was just thinking, wow. Thats not the way i have looked in the past. Reporter in her new book, she writes about dark days filled with anger and uncertainty. I was sure no guy would ever think i was attractive again. Much less what would want to marry me. I worried about my career, how was i supposed to type quickly with only one hand . Reporter there have been days where you would lay crying on your bed and not wanting to get out of bed at all. Right. Sometimes i think i would just wake up and think, did this really happen . I would think i had dreamt about losing my hand or something, and i would wake up and it wasnt there. The doctors even told me that losing a hand is like losing a Family Member or a sister, because its part of you. Reporter she was fitted with a prosthetic eye five weeks after her accident. She learned how to drive with one eye. And got a prosthetic arm seven months later. You say in the book the hardest thing for you was really losing the hand. When you were going through the process of getting fit for prosthetics, thats really when it hit you. Yeah. Because im thinking, im having to get this, and i never would have thought that, you know. And this one right here, this looks its so real. Yes. This doesnt move, right . No. You can actually move the fingers. Reporter uhhuh. Just Different Directions and stuff like that. But i have one that moves, but i like this one a lot. It just is the most natural and realistic. Reporter nearly a year later, lauren says her memory and speech are fully recovered. She is back working on her website, and she attended fashion week in new york in it september. She says despite her loss, shes living life with a new normal. This is your second home . It is, yeah. Reporter lauren took me to athletes performance, where she works out, building her strength. She says it has been key to her recovery. So this is the liner. And it protects my arm and also keeps this intact when im working out. Reporter many professional athletes work out at this facility. And when lauren was showing me her workout arms, a surprise visit. Oh, my, somebody jesse . How are you doing . Reporter jesse holley, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, makes lauren dance every time he sees her. To see her now, how beautiful she is and how hard she works each and every day, that makes a person like me go out and say, if she can do it, why can i not do it . Reporter lauren showed me just how tough her training can be. Lets see if youve got some game, natalie. Reporter she even challenged me to a push up competition. Shes a competitor, this one. Okay, we did it, whewhoo shes in shape. Reporter Lauren Scruggs stands as a lesson in fortitude and resilience. She faces her new challenges with grace and a determination to make the most of her Second Chance at life. Do you allow yourself to ever go down that path where you think, what if . No, i dont really let myself go to the whatif questions or why did this happen to me. I just i dont reporter you never ask god . Like, why has this happened to me . No, i just have learned through reading the bible, and also just growing up as a christian, ive realized that god will only put things in your life that he knows you can handle, and so my life has just deepened, and i dont think i would trade that. Coming up later, another powerful story of strugglend triumph. Christina aguilera fighting back. Part of the mentality of being a fighter and to survive through people taking shots. The intimate side of a superstar. But next, they hosted the party so popular with the military. Jill kelley and her lovely sister. They are lovely, lovely ladies. Theyre not shrinking violets, though. 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Turns out that tampa, home to one of the most important military bases in the country, was also home to one of floridas best party scenes. Heres josh mankowitz. Reporter the president ial election was only days ago, a potentially crippling budget crisis is only weeks away. And yet for the last few days, our nations attention has been fixed not on the fiscal, but on the physical. Welcome to america in the information age. Where the trivial often drives out the serious. Where the sensational can trump everything. And where we expect better behavior from our leaders than from ourselves. Thank you very much. Reporter that modern rule book cost cia director general David Petraeus his job, after he got caught having an affair with his equally married biographer, paula broadwell. When i heard the news, you could knock me over with a feather. Reporter colonel jack jacobs, awarded the congressional medal of honor, has known David Petraeus for almost 40 years. Young officers always gravitated to him. He was their ideal, if not their idol. Reporter the shocking fall of a genuine hero has been followed by a stream of strangerbythe minute revelations. They center on two women in the generals life. His mistress, and the woman to whom she had been sending what are described as anonymous and menacing emails. A darkhaired tampa socialite named jill kelley. Jill kelley and her sister natalie seemed very motivated to get in with the military elite. Reporter jessica is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times she covers a society where black tie mixes easily with dress formal from u. S. Central command. And no one seemed to everyone joy that mix more than jill kelley and her twin sister. They invited people to parties, invited petraeus over. They wanted to be seen, and they worked hard at it. Reporter it was jill kelley who inadvertently exposed the affair between petraeus and broadwell when she asked the fbi to investigate those anonymous emails she was getting. But that inquiry also brought to light an he felt mail connection between kelley and general john allen, whose appointment to nato is now on hold while government investigators take a look at their relationship. A lot of people in town were already looking at jill kelleys lavish parties. Tampa bay party planner, ken walters. Jill kelley and her lovely sister, they are lovely, lovely ladies. Theyre not shrinking violets, though. They indeed do speak their mind. Some people commented on their dress, not always appropriate. Or their casualness approaching top military leaders and hugging them and kissing them on the cheek maybe wasnt always appreciated by everyone in the room. Reporter kelleys closeness with the famous generals seemed to open a world far beyond caviar cocktail parties. She received a pass to walk on to the local air force base without a military escort. And according to a new york businessman, she claimed general petraeus himself helped her get the title of Honorary Council to south korea. She made it clear she was close to general petraeus, she got this job from general petraeus and that, in fact, he used his influence with the south korean government to get her that position. Reporter adam victor says he met jill kelley while he was trying to land a multibilliondollar Developm