Yeah. Dont you bring me down today here comes superhero nathaniel sometimes when im having a good time, i forget what i look like. Reporter Newman Family, i oe meet. Nnouncer tonight, a Remarkable Television event. The vie, and now on 20 20, Elizabeth Vargas with the reallife story of amazement and wonder. Dont you bring me down today 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. Reporter tell me what you saw. It didnt look like a human being. Reporter 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. 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. I was a pretty rudderless ship in my early 30s. And she just grounded me right away. My life skyrocketed after i met her. Reporter the two married in 2002 and immediately got down to business. Family business. So, you got pregnant. Were you excited . Oh, yeah. 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. What 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 . Silence. Nobodys no. Telling me anything. Im like, whats going on . Is he alive . Whats going on . I wanna see the baby. And they didnt wanna show it to me. Reporter they didnt wanna they were scared to show me. Reporter show you your own baby. I think they were scared at first because he had no cheekbones and no upper or lower eyelids. Just completely disfigured. Reporter and 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. It i just remember it being an old, blackandwhite picture of a teenager with treachercollins. And i remember thinking, thats gonna be my kid . Reporter Treacher Collins 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 a this woman shelley, baby. Before i could even tell her, she goes, hey, mr. Newman, you had a baby boy, i ard. Thats wonderful. And i remember goin, are you n nut i do because i said congratulations before we talked about anything else. Rorter ou people were paryt to and she said, lemme just tell you, your son is 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 reporter all better. All go away. Reporter right. And, rtunfounately, 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, cause 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 outta 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. D nonsmall cell lung cancer, previously treated with platinumbased chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene whove tried an fdaapproved targeted therapy, who wouldnt want a chance for another. . Whod say no to a. . Who wouldnt want a chance to live longer. Opdivo nivolumab . Over 40,000 patients have been prescribed opdivo immunotherapy. Opdivo can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. This may happen during or after treatment has ended, and may become serious and lead to deat see your doctor riif you experr worsening cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain or tenderness; severe nausea or vomiting; extreme fatigue; constipation; excessive thirst or urine; swollen ankles; loss of appetite; rash; itching; headache;on hallucinations; muscle or joint pain; flushing; lofever; or weakness,h; itchas this may keep these problems from becoming more serious. These are not all the possible side effect of opdivo. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if youve had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing, or liver problems. A chanli t longer. Because who wouldnt want. That . Ask your doctor about opdivo. Thank you to all involved in opdivo clinical trials. 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Announcer wonder boy continues with Elizabeth Vargas reporting. 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 fction. 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 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 to the world. Life, to raise hime i live in new york cioller. And everybody was, oh, you have a baby. And they go, le baby. And theyre like, god bless you. That was the worst. T was the worst. 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 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 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 justsoasy. Yothba 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 four or five, he could clearly vocalize, i dont like the staring. I dont like the name calling. At that age were goin to birthday parties and other kids see him and scream and leave. He knows it was about him. Repled to reno, nevada, where russ got a nejob. It is finally time to meet nathaniel. Hello. Ne toinee nice to see you. This is n. Nathaniel is now 11 years old and has had 53 surgeries. This is sam. Nice to meet you. Along, who, like so many kids, 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. Stay with us. Y with us. Psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way . Watch me. Ive tried lots of things for my joint pain. Now . Watch me. Think id give up showing these guys how its done . Please. Real pple with active Psoriatic Arthritis ight it. Theyre movityx®. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Its proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. Dont use are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. Or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. With less joint pain, watch me. For less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. 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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. Russel came up with the great idea. They sat down together and we write a letter. My name is Nathaniel Newman i am different. I dont want you to be surprised when we meet. I have a trach to breathe and a special heear. I hree d star wars. On a lot, as well as 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 . Expect i think is ve hrather th 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 wanna 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 10 yearold 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 ki