Faces. When the first kid called, monster. A kid called you a monster . Yeah. Dont you bring me down today here comes superhero nathaniel sometimes when im having a good time, i forget what i look like. Newman family, i have somebody that i want you to meet. Announcer tonight, a Remarkable Television event. The bestselling book, the blockbuster movie, and now on 20 20, the reallife story of amazement and wonder. Good evening. For this holiday season, we wanted to return to an incredible journey. First reported by our friend elizabeth vargas. All about family. We hope youll watch it with yours. Reporter it is nearly midnight on a frigid february friday in manhattan. Nurses on the labor and delivery ward at st. Lukes hospital are urging one of the expectant mothers to keep trying. Magda newman with her husband russel has been in labor for hours, the endless waiting nearly as agonizing as the physical pain. What was the doctor telling you about why the labor was taking so long . Well, its the first delivery, you know, you just gotta push harder. They finally come in and say, look, we gotta get this kid out. Hes showing some signs of distress. And then our life changed forever. Tell me what you saw. It didnt look like a human being. It didnt look like a human he didnt look like a person. It was that different. Reporter a crushing blow to a dream of parenthood, which itself had just been born three years earlier. When magda and Russel Newman met during a walk on the beach. I was bartending in the hamptons, and i saw her walkin on the beach. And i asked one of the waitresses who that was. And theyre like, thats the nanny. Reporter 22yearold magda was a classically trained pianist originally from poland. She had taken a summer job in the u. S. As an au pair. 33yearold russel saw an opportunity and seized it. The two married in 2002 and immediately got down to business, family business. So, you got pregnant. Were you excited . Oh, yeah. Very excited. Reporter everything was healthy . Absolutely no blips on the radar screen . Magda was 24 years old, incredibly healthy. So, they dont do a lot of tests when youre in that group. She was the ultimate lowrisk pregnancy. Reporter but back in that hospital room, after nearly 17 hours of labor when magda finally delivers, it is not a scene of happiness but of horror. I dont remember fainting but i i certainly remember screaming. You were screaming so loud. Oh, my god. Oh, my god. I thought he was dead. Thats what i thought. What happened . Whats happened . Whats happening . I saw just shock on peoples faces, big eyes and whats going on here . What happened . And i see they put him in a little back room. Theres 20 people running in there, doing something. I dont hear baby crying. No noise reporter and nobodys telling you anything . Nobodys telling me anything. No. Im like, whats going on . Is he alive . Even more terrifying, the baby is not breathing. Magda is left alone on the delivery table while doctors frantically work to save her babys life. While that was going on, a doctor called me out of the room to show me a textbook written in, like, the 1960s. I just remember it being an old, blackandwhite picture of a teenager with treachercollins. And i remember thinking, thats gonna be my kid . Reporter treachercollins is an extremely rare congenital cranial facial disorder. It affects just 1 in 50,000 people. I cant imagine firsttime parents. You were so excited to have a baby. In one nanosecond, everything, every single thing changed oh, it was it was it was it was surreal. Reporter they name their child nathaniel and contact the institute of reconstructive Plastic Surgery at nyus medical center. A leading hospital working with children who have Treacher Collins. They leave a message and within hours receive a fateful phone call back. I said, hello, whos this . She goes, its shelley cohen. Congratulations. That was the first person who said to us, congratulations no one had congratulated us yet. It was, like, 10 00 or 11 00 like, yay, you have a baby. And this woman shelley, before i could even tell her, she goes, hey, mr. Newman, you had a baby boy, i heard. Thats wonderful. And i remember goin, are you freakin nuts . Do you remember that conversation . I do because i said congratulations before we talked about anything else. You were the first person. People were paralyzed. They didnt have an idea of what to do. And she said, let me just tell you, your son is gonna live a long, healthy, happy, wonderful life. And i believed her. Like, it was just this voice on a phone, and i believed her. Reporter nathaniel is transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at nyu where he will spend the first month of his life. The newmans meet nurse pat chibaro, an angel in a white lab coat. What do you remember most about that day that you met the newmans . They were absolutely devastated. Families will say, well, when is the surgery . When is the surgery thats going to make this all all better. All go away. Right. And, unfortunately, its a journey, its not a surgery. Reporter and for the newmans the journey was just beginning. They say it was something unexpected that happened in the hours after nathaniel was born that sustained them through the early days and then the later months and years ahead. We turn on the tv, and it was the grammy awards. The show starts with Christina Aguilera singing the song beautiful. I am beautiful no matter what they say no matter what words cant bring me down no i mean you talk about time and no matter what people say, no matter what people do, youre beautiful in every single way. Words cant bring me down we decided, like, hes going to be beautiful not because of his appearance, because of his personality, because hes going to be a beautiful person. We are beautiful in every single way i swear she was singing to us that night, i swear, as cheesy as that sounds. And that song just resonated. And we got up out of the bed. And we went down to the nicu. And we held nathaniel for the first time. We held our son. Sorry. And it was awesome. And then the journey started. Reporter now meet this extraordinary wonder boy, next. Living with opioid addiction can be a struggle. Trapped in a cycle of opioid use, withdrawal, and cravings. For adults with moderate to severe opioid addiction whose withdrawal symptoms are controlled by oral buprenorphine for at least 7 days, sublocade may help them keep moving towards recovery. In a study, people treated with oncemonthly sublocade, plus counseling, were 14 times more likely to have treatment success versus placebo. Sublocade continuously releases the medicine buprenorphine all month with no real daily ups and downs. 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Unlike detergent alone, downy helps prevent stretching by conditioning and smoothing fibers, so clothes look newer, longer. Downy and its done. Reporter every parent of every child in every hospital clings to one sustaining hope, that whatevers wrong can somehow be fixed. But Nathaniel Newmans devastated parents dont even have that. How long did it take each of you to not flinch each time you saw nathaniel . It took me a year. A year . A year. A year. I almost cried every day. Every single time i looked at him, i could not believe its my child. I couldnt believe it. Reporter nathaniel has a genetic condition called Treacher Collins syndrome, unlike a typical infants face he was born without cheekbones, eye sockets or ears but most harrowing of all are his breathing complications. His nasal passageway is nearly solid bone and his airway is so narrow its like trying to breath through a soda straw. But as different as nathaniel looks on the outside, that is where the differences end. Did you tell them, its his brain is unaffected thats really important. Its really important. Because when you look at children with craniofacial conditions, you think cognitively, they are not going to be developmentally normal. Other than his appearance and how his life functions, breathing, eating, et cetera, he is no different than any other boy. Reporter but because of those malformations in his face in his first year of life he has more than ten surgeries. Weve never done cosmetic surgery on nathaniel. Everything weve done his whole life has had some benefit to life function. Reporter when nathaniel is one month old an emergency tracheotomy is performed, a breathing tube inserted in his throat. A procedure as life altering as it is life saving. Once you become dependent on a trach your life will your life changes. And then, hes gonna be prone to infection, which ended up proving to be true. Where a normal parent, you know, bath time is this cute, wonderful experience. For us, youre worrying about, what if water gets in there. Reporter but they remain committed to that pledge they made to nathaniel on the first night of his life, to raise him as a, quote, normal boy and take him out into the world. I live in new york city. Reporter by the time nathaniel turns two, russel and magda are settling into this version of parenthood, yet they still long for the chance to experience it without all the heartache. I wanted to have a normal child. I wanted to see how be able to nurse the baby. Yes, definitely for sure. But we were scared to just do it on our own. We did every test known to man and they basically said were 99 sure your second child will not be affected with Treacher Collins. Reporter but there is no way to know for sure until delivery day arrives. This delivery was so quick, i walk into the hospital 20 minutes later jacob was born. Jacob literally came out looking like a porcelain doll. He was just gorgeous, beautiful. Reporter the simple joys of motherhood, so easily taken for granted were for magda extraordinary. It was just so easy. This is so easy. You just have the baby and you just hold it and try to breastfeed it. Reporter throughout the years nathaniel and jacob shared all the moments and memories that brothers do, but for nathaniel, things were always different. How old was nathaniel when he first noticed, looking in a mirror, i dont look like everybody else . Definitely around age 4 or 5, he could clearly vocalize, i dont like the staring. I dont like the name calling. At that age were going to birthday parties and other kids see him and scream and leave. He knows it was about him. Reporter i traveled to reno, nevada, where the family now lives, after russ got a new job. It is finally time to meet nathaniel. Hello. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you. And this is nathaniel. Reporter nathaniel is now 11 years old and has had 53 surgeries. This is sam. Nice to meet you. Reporter i bring my son sam along, who, like so many kids, has never met anyone like nathaniel. Weve come to do some of nathaniels favorite things youre supposed to beat it. Reporter video games. Going to the trampoline park. Dodgeball how do you explain how you look different . I just explain that i have Treacher Collins, and i know everyone looks different, except i look a lot more different than everyone else. Does that bother you . No. I kinda like it. It just seems fun cause i stand out. Im curious when you realized, hey, my face is different from other peoples faces. When the first kid called, monster. A kid called you a monster . Yeah that must have hurt your feelings . Yeah, and then i realized that they dont do it to anybody else, so i was different. How did that make you feel . I was insulted. Yeah, ill bet. Were you mad . Yeah, i guess a little. Sometimes why do you think kids do that . Why do you think they say mean things to kids who look different . Because theyre they dont really think about what theyre saying, and their parents dont really do anything about it. Reporter and over the years nathaniels differences have affected his little brother jacob too, he can sometimes find himself acting more like a big brother. Your parents were telling me how when you were so little and kids would be mean to nathaniel and youd get up there with your little fist and go, hey, leave my brother alone. I still do that. You still do that. But i get more into it. Do you think of yourself as your brothers protector . I think he can protect himself pretty good, but sometimes there are just Big High School kids that i have to talk to by myself how old are you, jacob . Almost 9. Youre almost 9. Here comes superhero nathaniel sometimes i forget i have Treacher Collins. You do . Yeah, sometimes if im having a good time, i forget what i look like. So when we were ziplining, did you forget you had Treacher Collins . Yeah, i was just having a lot of fun. Reporter coming up for nathaniel middle school. How do you fit in when you are born to stand out . My name is Nathaniel Newman and i am different. Reporter stay with us. So, you bought those good enough paper towels . [daughter laughs] not such a bargain. Theres only one quicker picker upper. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Audreys on it. Eating right and staying active . On it audrey thinks shes doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk . [sfx crash of Football Players colliding offcamera. ] maybe not. Jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. So it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. And it lowers a1c. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare, but lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack . On it. With jardiance. Ask your doctor about jardiance. Reporter the first day of middle school, who ever wants to relive that, but imagine what its like for Nathaniel Newman. In the fall of 2015 nathaniel walked into bd Billinghurst Middle School in reno, nevada, for his first day of sixth grade, which for nathaniel meant another brutal round of introductions. New school, new classmates. To ease the transition, the newmans had a plan. Listen to this. Russel came up with the great idea. They sat down together and we they wrote a letter. My name is Nathaniel Newman and i am 12 years old. I am different. I dont want you to be surprised when we meet. I have a trach to breathe and a special hearing aid to hear. I have three dogs. I like pokemon a lot, as well as star wars. I really just want you to treat me like everyone else. And we include a picture to try and avoid some of the first day shock and awe, if you will. Reporter after a couple of months we came to visit nathaniel at school. Ms. Culbertson and ms. Urban are his sixth grade teachers. How important were those letters that nathaniels family sent out . The students knowing what to expect i think is very helpful, rather than just walking into school and then having that reaction, which most parents have taught their kids not to have that kinda reaction. But its hard. Theyre kids. Were any of guys at all nervous to meet nathaniel the first time . Yeah. Yeah, its okay to admit that. Tell me why you were nervous. I was a little nervous because i didnt want to say anything to hurt his feelings. I didnt know what the experience would be like. He may look different on the outside. But on the inside, hes perfectly normal just like everyone else. Reporter but the single most powerful change in how children treat nathaniel isnt because of that letter but because of a little blue book called wonder. We incorporate the book wonder into the welcome letters. Like, hey, you might have read wonder now. You might have read the book wonder. If you have then you already know a little bit about me. Reporter wonder tells the story of 10yearold Auggie Pullman born with a facial difference a lot like Treacher Collins. Do you do all your writing in the office . Rj palacio wrote the book after a chance encounter with a little girl who looked a lot like nathaniel. I was in front of an Ice Cream Store here in my neighborhood with my two sons. And i realized that there was a little girl sitting directly next to me. She had a very severe cranial facial difference. And i kind of panicked, cause my little boy started to cry hysterically and in my haste to protect her from his reaction, i kind of like turned the stroller around, i started pushing it away really fast. It was terrible. And i i was so mad at myself f