now back to dateline. >> there was a time when doctors gave brittani marcell just hours to live. dead. in 2010, through hours an hours of hard work, brittani's bottle became to hear. she no longer struggles to talk. here, at last, his brittani and her own words. >> you wake up from your coma. what's the first thing that happens that you can tell us about? >> and i'm just, like, trying to communicate. but you can't at that age. i was at that, as you say, newborn stage per se 'cause i couldn't walk. talking was the hard thing, speech in general. i mean, after everything that happened, you're kinda like a toddler. you don't understand the language that you and i are speaking today. and, then, when i went to rehab, i was more of, like, a teenager, a young teenager. and as time went on, i started becoming more like -- a better -- like, a stronger teenager, like, knowing what to do. >> so you were rapidly going through all the -- the phases you'd already done once before. >> right. right. >> and by her side the entire time -- her mom. >> she's been there with me on every medical appoin