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Transcript

Two Brothers Two is the continuing story of Sam and Luke and their two younger brothers, Tommy and Joseph, 5,000 days in the making. Watch Sam, Luke, Tommy, and Joseph negotiate the journey of adolescence and the road to young adulthood. While they don't have it all, they do have each other. And this is their story. I was on the way to a meeting when I got a call that Luciano had been in an accident. Tell me where you were when you heard the news about Luciano. I remember exactly where I was when I heard about it. It was one of those flashbulb memories. I assumed maybe he fell, or maybe a car hit Luciano. But when I found out it was a train that hit him, my mind assumed the worst. When I got to the hospital, I saw Luciano. His leg and arm had been amputated, but he was still alive. I just want to go back to being the same kid I was.

So we left the hospital, obviously, and I started a new life. For example, it's like being a baby all over again. You have to learn how to eat, how to walk. Because my immediate reaction is, "OK, well, we need to figure out how to solve this, because probably I have the best chance of anyone to help Luciano or at least be a part of helping Luciano." And I also knew him, and I knew what his potential was. And I baptized him. How much pain were you in throughout the whole process? A lot of pain. And where did it hurt most?

My pride. I've always been that kind of person that likes to do everything independent, do everything on my own. That's why I say it's like being reborn, because you feel small; you feel defenseless all over again. I mean, just imagine how hard just a simple thing like showering is when you don't have your right arm, leg, and eye. What scares me is crossing the street with a wheelchair. It makes me feel like I can't help or control anything. The idea was to work backwards from what Luciano needed to have a functional life, not about what we thought was possible from other people and other examples. It was, "OK, this is what he needs to have a functional life. And we just need to figure out how to get there." Or that we were considering raising, like, $200,000 for a kid in South America. When I was looking at other fund-raisers that were really struggling for $10,000, I was just like, "It has to happen." Yeah. When Sam called and told me about the accident, it was just devastating. This just wonderful little kid that--so much potential, so much grit. So we put a film together, showed it around, and immediately 300 people donated. People who didn't even know him, just like that. Incredible generosity. But we still needed more money to put him in prosthetics for life, and so that's when the Baker family from Southern California stepped forward. They said they'd had a family meeting and that they wanted to take this on as a project. And I'm forever grateful to them.

Luciano. Luciano. [SPEAKING SPANISH] And I ended up having more surgeries and losing even more of my arm and leg. That's where I was when I heard that you and the Nelsons had used my footage to raise money to bring me to the States for treatment. I couldn't believe that so many people I didn't know could care about me.

I mean, just this project, combined with a few other things, is the only conceivable way I can see, I can imagine, to raise $250,000 for a random kid in South America. When you heard that all these people had donated money and that lawyers and doctors were donating their services, how did it make you feel? At first I had no words. I took it as an opportunity and a promise to me and to them. I will move forward for them. I'm going to win for all the people who have helped me. Look how much I've been able to achieve because of you. Surprisingly, he's one of the happiest kids his age that I've talked to. I mean, really. He's just so optimistic and so happy. He has to jump around everywhere. He's like, "Well, as soon as I get prosthetics, then I can go back to what I was planning on doing before." It's not like his plans have changed. Even when it took 14 months for the U.S. to grant me a medical visa, I think knowing people believed in me made a difference. [MUSIC PLAYING]

And then it happened. My father and I received the visa. The Bakers sent the tickets, and we were off to spend Christmas with the Stephensons and the Nelsons, whose kids performed their annual Christmas play in our honor in the worst Spanish I've ever heard. [SPEAKING SPANISH]

In the new year, we traveled to Loma Linda, where the top doctors in the world who build the most advanced prosthetics were willing to treat me. Many of the Iraqi veterans get treated there. I remember you mentioned that I had been a runner, and they threw in a $50,000 foot for running. Talk about motivation!

After your accident, during our interview in the hospital, I asked you if you wanted to be an example, and you said, "No, I just want to be a normal kid." Back then I just wanted everything to be back to normal and thought that everything was going to be back again like it was before. What changed?

A lot. I noticed that I could talk to people and change the way that they think, because I tell them my story, and my story has changed the way that they think about themselves and the way that they think about life.

Do you know Nick Vujicic? He's a motivator, and he's missing all four limbs. He's been my idol before and after the accident. Yeah. My final goal is to become a psychologist because I want to meet people who have the same issues that I do so I can help them. [MUSIC PLAYING]

In the future, if I can raise the support, I want to come back in a year for college and start working with people like me. I've been given so much and have a lot to give in return. Even though I've lost my right eye, my right leg, and my right arm, I can do anything. After all, I still have my left side. It's my lucky side.

In hindsight, that was a very, very, very ambitious goal. But I really did believe that God wanted him to have a functional life and that all I needed to do was figure out what was possible for him to have the functional life, and God would figure out the rest, like He always had with Luciano. Well, the Luciano thing was so great because it was an entrepreneurial-type thing, and I love entrepreneurial-type things. I always have. On the mission, you're essentially a catalyst for helping people change all the time. When that thing happened with Luciano, I realized, "You know what? I can be a catalyst for things on a scale that was never even possible on the mission. I could do bigger things." What do you most want to do when you grow up? Well, I want to be an entrepreneur when I grow up. The decision not to go into dentistry, I felt like I had a better chance of having an impact on the world on a bigger scale if I did something different. And if I did dentistry, I'd always wonder if I could have. So yeah, me and my friend, we started a business. There are a lot of things that are hard about it. You don't know if you're going to have a job or be OK a month down the road. So think about the safe Sam, thinking about dentistry, versus the Wild West Sam right now. I guess the real me is the Wild West Sam. I have no idea what my future will look like 15 years from now. Your perfect future? I build a successful start-up, and one that makes a difference in other people's lives.

Coming up in the series: So yeah, we start dating, and I start conspiring to marry her, and-- With wedding bells also ringing for Luke.

But next we focus on Sam and Luke's little brother. It sounds like Luke's had the most powerful impact on you of all your brothers. Is that accurate? Yes. What is it that's bonded you and Luke? I think it's mainly just him being an example for me. "Luke, your mission call is sitting right here." And I was like, "What?" It was like he was my best friend, and now he's preparing to go to Cambodia. Like, when I get a letter from him, it's like I hang onto every word that he says. I feel like Luke is like the definition of hard work, especially with his football and everything. So you're training pretty hard to get this quarterback spot. I've been doing a lot of training, and then I go to a camp most every Saturday. My quarterback coach, he talks about how I'm a little bit too much of a perfectionist because I hate not being able to do something. It's my goal, is to be the varsity quarterback. So you're going to beat out this other kid that's trying, too, huh? I plan on it. What's your greatest fear? The thought of losing is the worst for me. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Two Brothers Two: Miracles and Making a Difference - Episode 10

Description
Sam searches for a way to help his Chilean friend Luciano, who lost his leg and arm after a terrible accident.
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