Bone Cancer

reporter: zach can't stop writing lyrics,there are so many songs he wants to leave behind with only months to live. his songcalled "clouds" was born. ["clouds"] zach: like every teenager out there feels invincible and they'll never admit it andit's not the kind of invincible like superman, it's the kind of invincible like "i'll seeyou in five months." i thought i was invincible. i was ready for college pretty much and iwas planning out way ahead and yeah, turns out sometimes you can't do that.zach: my name is zach sobiech, i'm seventeen years old and i have osteosarcoma. i've beentold i have a few months to live but i still

have a lot of work to do. i want everyone to know, you don't have to find out you'redying to start living. zach: you know most people live kind of in the middle between dream come true and you'redying. and it's a very comfortable place to live. i'm living on two extreme ends so youhave really really good days and you havereally really bad days. laura: zach has always beenincredibly empathetic and compassionate. this basketball game iwas kind of laughing about how one of the players had kind of a funny run and he goesyeah but he's really good at and he listed

all these things and i thought he's just alwayslooking for the good in people and i think he's taught all of us that's how it's done.alli: i would say that zach is a testament to the fact that things are okay when youbelieve in something greater than yourself in the world.rob: you can be with zach and just by sitting there with him feel better. he's got, i don'tknow how to describe it, he's got this aura about him.zach: what makes you happy, is seeing someone else smile because you put it there. that'swhat is awesome about living in this world. it's that you can help people. zach: i like the structure of our family with

two guys, two girls for the kids and mom anddad. because it kind of evens everything out. laura: grace has always been his baby.grace: zach is like the other half of me. all we need is to be there like in the sameroom with each other and that's enough for us! thinking about my life about zach, it'sreally hard to think about that. i really get sick to my stomach when i think aboutit. laura: zach had been going through the eighthgrade and he and his sister decided to go for a run and he came back from the run andtold me "mom, my left hip hurts." so we went in for an mri and at this point still i'mthinking, cancer was still not on my radar at all. zach: they went in and found out that it was cancer.

it was osteosarcoma. and it was sounbelievable honestly. grace: i was upstairs in the kitchen. andi just went upstairs and i cried. and i just said i got to live life like zach is going to die tomorrow. zach: my mom walked in on me once when i waslying on the ground because i didn't want to associate my bed with being sick.laura: five days after he finished chemotherapy. he had his routine ct scan of his chest andthey found tumors in both lungs. laura: she told us six months to a year.zach: i just didn't understand that. like it didn't make any sense to me.laura: we did have an option of surgery but that would me they'd have to take his leftleg and half of his pelvis and he wouldn't

even be able to sit up. that's when we gotto the point where we have to make decisions about quality of life.zach: with the hospital, it's the most sterile place in the world, but you just do not feelclean there at all and it was tough being there because you felt totally disconnected.laura: he decided, i don't want to be in the hospital all the time, i want to be out withfriends, i don't want to feel sick, and i want to be home. rob: in the house like this where we have six people and four kids part of the timei enjoy zach is just when we're alone, just sitting there. we could be watching movies,we could be talking cars or whatever. laura: zach likes to dream big so he kindof got into cars and car magazines and stuff

and that was one thing he would do in thehospital. zach: i would sort through the cards and belike which one is the least expensive but has the highest performance. nissan gtr islike, it's perfect! i've dreamt of that car for years. laura: so we have a little tiny surprise for you. zach: i don't like surprises. laura: oh i think you're going to like thisone. zach: holy crap! are you serious?laura: you get to drive it for a week! grace: you're driving me places!rob: hey zach, what's up! you like that? pretty impressive huh?rob: the look on his face was so cool and

when zach lights up, it makes everyone happy!zach: it's like being dunked in cold water and not being able to breathe but in a reallygood way. rob: it wasn't the car, it was the experiencethe car created and the joy that zach received from driving it and the joy i received frombeing with zach when he got to drive it! zach: being able to experience these things,it helps a lot because you can either sit in your basement and wait or you can get outthere and do some crazy stuff. laura: when we found the cancer in his pelvis,they said you know, maybe you should start writing some letters.zach: music is a way i can express myself without having to burden everyone else.laura: i was cleaning up downstairs and there

was a lot of paper laying around with differentscribblings on it and i picked one up and i read it and it was clouds! laura: sammy and zach have been dear friends for many many years. they are songwriterstogether, that's how they communicate with each other.sammy: our musical thing its like really becoming something and it has become a part of us.there's going to be nobody like him to do it with again and that's going to be reallyhard. zach: i find that with my situation it isalmost harder to become the other end. i have closure and she won't have closure.

sammy: there are very very very few people who i love as much as i love zach. zach: my closure is being able to get my feelings into these songs, so they could have somethingto remember me by or lean on when i was gone. laura: for me it's zach's way of saying "i'm okay." and saying goodbye and i'm just so grateful it's there because i'm going to need it later.sam: his music is kind of like a record of how much eh cares for us.grace: there's this song that he wrote about me, "for my grace" so i'll keep that alwayswith me, constantly. grace: i love you!zach: i love you too grace! saying that for like the first time ever![off camera]: is it really?

zach: pretty much. yeah she's pretty cool! zach: i think with my diagnosis, we've become a better and stronger family. we all loveeach other just that much more because when you go through stuff like that you go throughit together. sam: you have to stick together as a family,i mean that's imperative because we've always been there since zach was first diagnosed.we've been there as a family, we're all together and we have to make it through as a familytogether. alli: how will i remember my brother. happy,always smiling, and always limping around with his funny little walk. that's as simpleas it is, happy i guess.

zach: my friends, i don't know if they'veaccepted me being terminal or not. they know that if they just treat me the same everythingwill be fine honestly. friend 1: he's someone you can trust is goingto be smiling the next day despite his condition. friend 2: he's kind of just like a light inthe school. if i have a bad day it's not actually really a bad day if i'm just complaining aboutsomething. it's all about perspective i think. friend 1: he will always live on in my life.the values he has taught me, memories we've had, they are so ingrained in who i am asa person. laura: amy, she's a smart girl. we knew hewas terminal when they started dating and she knew that. she sat down with her mom andtalked through it and what they decided was

would you date him if he didn't have cancerand she said yeah. she has really helped him through some hard times.zach: one of our first dates was we planned a picnic just in a park somewhere.amy: i knew he was going in for scans that day.zach: we get the results back and my doctor walks in and she's pretty quiet and she lookspretty serious and it's like well it can't be that bad i mean come on. and she goes,"so you've got a collapsed lung." i'm like "oh, okay."amy: i broke down crying because it was like the first time it was real that he had cancer.because before it was, everything seemed normal. zach: it was like cool can i at least go tothe picnic and then come back and have surgery,

and they were like no we need to do this now.laura: he was so devastated because all he cared about was getting to that date.zach: i was pretty angry that i had to miss the picnic because who doesn't like a goodpicnic, it's awesome, stupid lung. amy: good morning! we're not going to school today! zach: where are we going?amy: i'll tell you. zach: i don't know where we're going!amy: just start driving, i'll tell you! zach: i almost burst into tears just becauseit was so perfect. picnic basket for cold pizza which pretty much defines our relationshipright there. amy: we know what we both would want in ourfuture. we know that we love each other just

the same amount. well we talked about gettingmarried and having kids and our jobs, we do that a lot when we have bad days, so likewhen we start to cry. that's when we sit down and plan it all out.zach: we would have three or four kids, we haven't decided yet. but i kind of want fourbecause you can have two boys and two girls then because that's what we had in our family,it worked out pretty well so. it's one of those things that, it's like your ultimatedream kind of thing, so most people just ignore it or most people think "i don't know if itwill happen" and you know mine obviously probably won't. amy: i think the moment i'm most scared about is leaving the hospital after he's gone andknowing that he's not coming with. and having to walk out of there.

zach: i will actually love her to death, to my death. that's the thing it's like why notget married because you know, till death do us part and i'm dying so we better get onthis, that kind of thing but yeah i do love her to death, and i will, forever! justin: okay sobiech family, everyone come downstairs! so i'm justin and i'm a directorand we're here making a little documentary about your amazing family member and i camehere and i was expecting to meet a great kid who had a cool youtube video and was inspiring,but i was not expecting to meet a seventeen year old that would change my life. so wheni first contacted your mom i told her i wanted

to make a music video for you, which we justunfortunately couldn't do. but what i was able to do was reach out to a few people andi just told them your story and i told them i just wanted to do something for you becauseyou've done so much for us. what resulted was something very special. i just want youto know, this stuff is not happening because you're dying, it's really because of the wayyou're living. i just want you to know that. amy: you can just tell that they all lovezach's story and admire him so much and it was amazing to see.grace: he was in awe, like he couldn't believe it and none of us could! zach: the most bizarre thing i think i've

ever seen, craziest feeling in the world!sammy: seeing everybody who loves him at the end, it made me cry.zach: it really makes you want to keep on going. zach: aw grace! grace you've been my best friend for fourteen years. we've done so muchtogether and it's going to be tough going but you have to keep being strong. you gotto kick some butt on the basketball court too and take them to the championship.zach: sam, you've been the best big brother anyone could ever ask for. you've given meso much knowledge. you have helped me through so much and i think it is, it's important you knowthat i love you because being guys i don't think we say it too much,but i do love you so much.

zach: alli, squeeze from the back of the toothpastebottle. i'm going to miss you so much because you've always kept me strong in my faith andeverything. zach: mom and dad, best parents anyone couldask for i could only wish that i could have kids and raise them like you raised me becauseyou did one hell of a job. you're the best parents anyone could ever ask for. i loveboth of you so much and thank you for being my parents. zach: life is really just beautiful moments, one right after the other. all of these experienceswere super super cool. all of them are giving me a little bit more closure on everythingand kind of accepting everything a little bit more. amy: he's shown me that it's not all about

the grades you get or how cool you are inhigh school, it's about doing what makes you happy and no matter when you're going to go,to live life to the fullest everyday. zach: it's really simple actually, it's justtry and make people happy. maybe you have to learn with time, maybe you have to learnit the hard way, but as long as you learn it you're going to make the world a betterplace. laura: i think that's actually one of theblessings of cancer is that you kind of come out of denial and so in doing that, thingsare better! that life is richer, everything means more, beauty is more beautiful, he's a beautiful person and i'm so happy to have been zach sobiech's mom. zach: death is just another thing on the agenda kind of.

yeah it's scary but the only reasonit's scary is because you don't know what's next or if there is a next, so it's kind oflike sitting in the dark. so you can either choose to be freaking out in the dark andthinking okay what's out there or you can just relax and fall asleep and just be happyand content with everything. zach: i want to be remembered as a kid whowent down fighting and didn't really lose.