Alright, so this is how you are going to say. Youll get the best deal of the year on xfinity tv and internet. And you even get this. Mike, youre on balloons. Sarah, youre gonna high five everybody. Ben, youre gonna be wowing them with your dance moves. Dont miss the xfinity best deal of the year. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Get amazing tv and internet during our best deal of the year. With huge savings of 600 over 2 years. Plus a speed upgrade to 400 megs, free for 2 years. And ask about even more savings with xfinity mobile. Click, call or visit a store today. Nightline, beyond the bucket, continues. Here now, juju chang. Good evening, thanks for join bei joining us. Tonight a glimmer of hope for those fighting als, the ice bucket challenge raised more than a quarter of a Million Dollars for the research. And weve been blown away by the people weve met, including those who believe that what youre about to see is a medical marvel. Thurmond maynard is in the fight of his life. Diagnosed with als at just 35 years old. Now i have to lean against something for balance issues. My balance has gotten worse. Reporter a husband, a father, als has already robbed him of his career, his passion for dirt biking and eventually, it will steal his ability to walk, talk, even breathe. But thurmond still has hope, because he was chosen for a potentially Ground Breaking clinical trial, using stem cells designed to beat back the disease. And today, hes about to attempt what he was convinced hed never do again. What are you about to do here . Try to ride a motorcycle. Reporter for the first time in . About two and a half years. Reporter hows it feel . Feels good so far. Reporter thurmonds convinced hes got a reversal of the devastating symptoms. This is the hardest part i had, i couldnt pull the clutch in. Reporter its an astonishing victory. That gives tantalizing hope where once there was none. Because this is the brutal reality of als. I call it the beast. Because it comes at you every single part of your life. Reporter youre about to meet three brave warriors at different stages of their olice dective, to b the motocross dad and the Hometown Hero who helped inspire an internet sensation. It was the summer of 2014. Your facebook feed was no doubt flooded with all your friends dumping ice water on their heads. Overnight, the ice bucket challenge exploded. And those three letters, als. Als. Als. Reporter became known around the world. And it worked, spectacularly. More than 220 million donated to als organizations, for a disease once named after lou gehrig. Now five years later in the heart of boston, hundreds of people gathered. We can cross the finish line and rid the earth of this disease. Reporter watching from the stage, one of the men who helped launch millions of ice buckets. Swinging the bat today with an awful lot of confidence. Reporter it wasnt long ago that pete had a Bright Future and beautiful girlfriend when out of nowhere, heartbreak. He throws up a slide burned forever in my memory. I dont know how to tell a 27yearold guy they have als. For a young guy like myself to be diagnosed, hopefully i can use my youth and network im part of. Reporter tapping into those social networks, beginning with bostons biggest athletes, he helped launch a worldwide movement, eventually reaching billionaires, even president s. Pete and his girl friend got married. Even had a baby, despite the odds. Petes mission, to keep fighting for his young family. His bravado helping so many in the throes of this terrible disease. People like sarah olson whos now benefitting from the millions raised by that icy challenge. Joe, you are getting too fat. Reporter the average age for onset of als is 55. Sarah was just 29. Shes now on one of only two treatments available to als patients, radacava, which was fasttrack ray proved. What would you say . Its helping. Its months on my life that because of pete i have that chance. In the past year and a half, things have changed. But i still have use of my arms. My hands. My voice has not changed. Its quieter, but things could be a lot worse. Reporter this was sarah just a few years ago, a bodybuilding champion in peak physical condition. 7 body fat, six pack abs, oh, yeah. Reporter you had it going on. It was dedication. Reporter how much time were you spending in the weight room . About three hours a day. Reporter off stage she was just as fierce, a sporty tomboy turned undercover detective for the kansas city vice squad. What was your favorite part . Interacting with the kids. I love dealing with the kids. Im a woman. Im small. So the little girls would, they loved to see me in a uniform. Reporter youre like a super hero come to life. Thats what it felt like. Reporter but two years ago the super hero began losing strength on her left side and her legs kept twitching, the combination, potential sign of als. And i didnt know what it was. Thought maybe it was related to energy drinks, cut out the energy drinks, then just progressively got weaker and weaker. Wound up trying to go up some stairs, fell backwards on my head, got several stitches. I knew i had to get some answers. Reporter she finally met with a neurologist. Did you get a sense from the neurologist, somethings up . Hoeroh, yeah. They have a my chart system, where you can look up your records, i looked it up and i knew right then thats what i had. Reporter sarah attacked her diagnosis hid diagnosis head on. I said mom, youve got five more meinutes to be sad, then w have to figure this out. Weve got to work through it. Reporter but in her mission to push forward, some stayed behind. You were married at the time. I was. Reporter what happened . He walked out. Couldnt handle it. Couldnt face it. But it was a bump in the road. And i moved on. Reporter youre not bitter. No. Lifes too short. Reporter short indeed. But sarahs zest for life only grows. Ive got to go on probably close to 20 trips with all my loved ones, friends, family, making so many memories. You know, ive lived more in the last year than i did in the first 30. Reporter shes even managed to find love again. Her former supervisor, Police Captain lonnie price, her very own super hero. As i needed more assistance, lonnie stepped in the picture. Hes like, you dont need to drive, ill come get you. And it kind of evolved. And that was my person. I felt safe, felt comfort if he was there. Reporter how did you fall in love . How can you not fall in love with somebody who takes such good care of you . Reporter this is the first time ive seen your eyes get misty. Why . Because im lucky. Hes very selfless. Takes excellent care of me. There it is. Reporter during the day, lonnie takes care of sarahs every need. And together, they squeeze joy out of every moment. He veerptolunteered for the ovet shift to make it all work. I love you. I love you. Reporter friends and family take over. Yeah, thats good. Reporter while lonnie patrols some of the citys most dangerous neighborhoods. Unless they find a cure you know what the end is, so thats the tough part. Shes the one i want to be with, and its ra honan honor to take of her. He knows what lies ahead. Hes informed himself. So hes not going anywhere. Reporter neither is the police department, keeping her on salary, letting her work when she can. Her coworkers gifting her their precious sick days. I had 400 donated sick days in two days. Reporter 400 donated sick days . I had people asking me are you okay on days . Tly delay her symptoms,eatmentg but the only hope for a break through lies in a few trials. Because of her progression, she is not eligible. Are you trying to get on that . I would love to, but i have to give up my breathing machine, and i cant afford to do that. Reporter but Thurmond Maynard is one of the very few people who have been accepted into a potentially Ground Breaking trial. There have never been a reversal of symptoms which is why what hes about to show us is remarkable. Thats a change. This stem cell study may be doing the impossible, reversing the symptoms of his deadly disease. Whenever i went back to the doctors, hey, have you noticed any kind of improvement . I said yes, i can stand on my tippytoes. A wow factor. Reporter you wowed your doctors. I wowed myself. Reporter when we come back. If you are able to ride today, what will that tell you . That will tell me somethings working. Reporter thurmond is about to try something he hasnt ton in two years, stay with us. Oh ozempic® announcer people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of onceweekly ozempic®. 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Has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call anotr nce company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. Nightline, beyond the bucket, continues. Here again, juju chang. My dads name is . My favorite thing to do with my dad is . Reporter most ahs patients are given two to five years to live, but pete is still fighting. Costly, round the cholock care keeping him alive. His legacy, lucy. When my mom dumped water on her head when she had a black dress on, i was actually there. Reporter promising new treatments may not make a difference in his battle, but the family is still focussed on the future. This hwill go back to pete ad the ice bucket challenge. For being the beginning of the end of that disease. Reporter the solution may already be coursing through thurmonds body. He was your typical sports buff who married his school sweetheart. I was playing football. She was a cheer leader. Enough said. Reporter game over. Reporter they bonded over their who have of riding dirt bikes. Their two teenagers who have to ride as well. A family that rides together stays together i guess . Questi yes. Reporter why does he who have it so much . . T the freedom. Couldnt pull it in, couldnt shift gears. It was like a snowball effect. Reporter he received that dreaded diagnosis, als. I was stupid about the disease. I didnt know nothing about it. Reporter what went through your behind . Reporter with thurmond unable to work, the couple sold their home and that prized dirt bike. How des pperate were you to fin some hope . I called several of the hospitals and nobody reached back out to me. And out of the blue, an icon popped up on my cell phone, it had a phone number, i clicked it and called it. Reporter thats good spam. Thats awesome. Reporter thurmonds poe greg is relatively slow. Making him a perfect candidate for the stem cell trial in boston. So they decided to make the long commute. The treatment involves removing a patients own stem cells and treating them. He is one of 130,000 people chosen. Nobody knows is thurmond is actually getting his own enriched stem cells or a placebo. Youre convinced that youre not on the placebo. Im not convinced. I feel strength back in my body. Of course my left hand. Reporter is it the power of placebo . If youre injecting water in my spine, say continue. I feel great. Reporter dozens of stem cell trials have all failed to provide a treatment, but thurmonds trial is already attracting attention, in part due to this video, als activist matt balima, thats him rising from his wheelchair for the first time in two years and months later, this, take beiing steps. Hes the only patient getting the treatment outside of a chinical trial. He fought for access to try. Just yesterday, aatieadca gup r groundbreaking meeting with brainstorms team and the fda. Als patients clamoring for speedy access to treatment. Weve seen cases where people got better very quickly, but we dont know enough to say that they actually stayed better. So promising is the best we can say at this point. Reporter back home in west virginia, thurmond is convinced hes regaining skills he thought hed lost forever. Before, i wasnt able to use my left hand. Now. Reporter its working pretty well. Pretty simple to use. Reporter something essentially unheard a reporter thats a small gesture but a huge meaning. Yes. Reporter but today, a bold decision, attempting to get back on a dirt bike for the first time in over two years. Todays going to be the firth day. Reporter todays the day. Theres an old saying among motorcycle riders. Fourwheels move the body. Two wheels move the hows it feel . What does that mean . Speechless. Almost hilike having a newborn baby. Reporter youre giddy right now. Yeah. Reporter in your mind, you felt like youd never ride again. I never thought id have this moment right here, ever again. Reporter today the joyride of lifetime. It may seem like a small thrill but a towering act of defiance in a disease that stands undefeated. I dont want do be foolishly optimistic, but do you think its the stem cells doing it . If its not, its got me fooled. Its working. Reporter wow, goose bumps. Like job. When he was diagnosed with cancer, his team at ctca created a Personalized Care plan to treat his cancer and side effects. So job could continue to work and stay strong for his family. This is how we inspire hope. This is how we heal. We love you, daddy. Good night. I love you guys. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Those darn seatbelts got me all crumpled up. Thats ok hey, guys hi mrs. Patterson. Wrinkles send the wrong message. Sorry. Help prevent them before they start with new downy wrinkleguard. When i walked through a snowthats when i knewtte, i had to quit. For real this time. Thats why im using nicorette. Only nicorette gum has patented dualcoated technology for great taste. Plus intense craving relief. Every great why, needs a great how. Upbeat musieverything was so fresh in the beginning. [sniff] dramatic music but that plug quickly faded. Upbeat music luckily theres febreze plug. 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Weve witnessed that steely dirtbike loving maynard family. They, too, have an awful lot to live for. Please go to nightlines Facebook Page for more information. Thanks for joining us, goodnight, america