VIDEO: Bryan Stow speaks on camera

When most Giants fans hear the name Bryan Stow, they visualize a man who was beaten and left for dead after a baseball game at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day last season.

If you’re like me, in your mind’s eye, you may see Stow as the silent victim of a terrible hate crime and a man whose face — public as it has been made over the past 8 months — has been limited to pictures on Facebook, a support page, and even this blog. In short, Stow has been a man without a voice.

Bryan has hundreds of thousands of supporters and well-wishers across the country, most of whom have never met him or heard his voice — everyday people like you and me who are still at a loss for words ourselves over the senselessness of an act committed out of what can only be described as hatred or evil.

That all changes on Monday night when the father of two young children — who was in a coma for weeks and hospitalized for months after the brutal attack — speaks out in his first public appearance on television.

On Monday, we will get to see Bryan in a new light. For most of us, we will hear his voice for the first time and see him as a survivor. A man who still has plenty of life in front of him and plenty to offer this world.

Stow’s voice — the tone, resonance, and inflection of it — may never sound like it once did, when he was a Santa Cruz paramedic out saving the lives of others.

But his voice will never sound more alive, either, and that’s truly a Christmas blessing.

The other night, NBC Bay Area channel 11 aired a teaser of the Rock Center with Brian Williams interview (which can be seen below).

Watching it made me realize how heroic Stow is. He’s not a victim. He’s a survivor. A man who has a story to tell.