we'll see you again at 11:00. 25 years all the quake starts now. >> the following is a cnn report. >> the following is a cnn special report. >> it's the ball game that turned into a disaster. >> a collapse of the entire freeway. >> 25 years after a major earthquake rocked the bay area, stories from beneath the rubble. >> there was nothing i could do to get free. jack, earthquake hit while i was under concrete. worst happened.

>> the bay bridge has collapsed. >> when i open my eye, i'm looking directly at the water. >> do you remember what she said to you? >> we're not going to get out of here. yes, we are. >> tonight, san francisco shaken, 25 years after the quake. >> early evening, october 17th, 1989. and san francisco is in the middle of baseball madness. for the first time in nearly three decades, the city's giants are in the world series. adding to the excitement, their opponents are rivals from across the bay -- the oakland athletics. >> it was a carnival atmosphere. everybody can't wait for the game to start. >> veteran sports caster al michaels is in town to call the game and it is a perfect day for

baseball. >> this was a pristine day, probably around 70 degrees. >> it is a gorgeous day. one of those indian summer days that you only get in san francisco. >> bill ray has left his office early and is walking towards his apartment in san francisco's hip marina district. >> i thought god, this is the most peaceful place in the world, why are we moving across the bay? >> bill, and his wife janet, were married two years and are exactly a month to close from their first home. >> we had plans for children and family and such and it made sense for us at the time. >> for bill and janet, this evening was all about baseball. >> our plans were to stay at home and watch the game from home.

>> near candlestick park, inside fire station number 9, the guys were watching, too. >> i was in the kitchen. they had gotten a load of prawns. it was kind of an occasion. >> a 19-year veteran is on duty that night. it's his turn to cook dinner. >> and your plan was to lay low, hope there were not many calls, right? >> oh, yeah, it was oakland and san francisco. so it was a big thing. >> the matchup has been dubbed the tampa bay bridge series, after the main artery that connects san francisco with oakland. that bridge is where one law student happens to be. >> my wife and i would walk down to school and walk back home and we would never be in the car. we would never be anywhere near

the bridge. >> but bruce has recently taken a day job as a construction manager and must drive on the bridge this day. >> there was a project that was being built over in oakland. and they were turning the building over from construction to the property management group. so i had to go over for the celebration to do the little handoff. >> the national world series broadcast begins at 5:00 p.m. pacific time but the actual game is still about half an hour away. >> the crowd is filing in, there is a great sense of anticipati anticipation. the field looked as good as it ever looked at candlestick park. >> tonight is game three, the first of the series. about 30 million people are watching on tv. >> the oakland athletics against the san francisco giants. i'm al michaels. >> i came on the air, opened it up. we had a shot, a few other

things, i set the scene, here is what happened in the first two games. >> and he fails to get dave parker. so the oakland a's -- take -- >> emergency -- and equipment -- >> at first it is like what is this? this can't be happening. it takes a moment to understand. hey, wait a second. all hell was breaking loose. >> we are technically -- >> bill ray's wife, janet is in their marina district living room watching the pregame show. >> i was getting out my suit and had just pulled on my khakis and

was sockless and shirtless when the first jolt hit, it was quite strong. and i asked her to come to me. >> they meet in the hallway of their second floor apartment. >> and we were holding each other. the ground continued to shake. just as she got into my arms she said i love you. the -- and then the glass started to break. the apartment on two sides was surrounded by windows. and they started to shatter all at the same time. >> on the bay bridge, bruce

stefan is coming home. >> i was probably going about 50-plus miles an hour or so. and there was a caltrans truck that was doing some work on the lights. and right around the time that i had either just gotten even or past that caltrans truck it felt like i had a flat tire. and i remember thinking maybe they dropped a light bulb on the road. but it was in the series of split seconds. so in the next split seconds it was two flat tires. and in the next split second it sounded like the engine was falling out of my car. >> near candlestick, fire station number nine immediately goes into emergency mode. trucks roar out into the street. jerry shinn is driving. >> as we went around the first block the radio chatter started. >> we're going to need some

trucks down here as soon as you can get them. >> as people came over the radio, they were trampling over each other. >> what did that tell you? >> you never hear that. that is the radio you use ten times a day. everybody is cool, calm, collected. you wait your turn. the pitch of their voices was going higher and higher. there was a little bit of -- i don't want to say panic, but a lot of excitement. they came on the radio and said truck nine to cervantes and fillmore, and check that, you want truck nine to cervantes and fillmore? >> it doesn't make sense, because cerantes in filmore is in the marina district seven miles from jerry on the opposite side of town where bill and janet ray's world has just crashed down around them. based on all the chatter and what they were saying, what were you expecting when you got to the marina district?

>> i was not expecting what i saw. >> ahead? >> you're looking at the bay bridge, that is the section that has collapsed. >> do you remember dropping? >> it was just this big noise. s to produce energy. ♪ be an engineer. solve problems the world needs solved. what are you waiting for? changing the world is part of the job description. [ male announcer ] join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring america's future engineers. energy lives here. i make a lot of purchases and i get aness. lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 70,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire.

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four minutes and 30 seconds past 5 p.m. pacific time, baseball fans are expecting an epic game, commuters are having an easy rush hour. traffic is light. >> an earthquake, wait a minute can you feel that? >> until the earth shifts and lives are changed forever. >> has collapsed.

we have a major injury accident, cypress from west grand advising major injuries. >> saleswoman dorothy otto is driving her pontiac on the bottom level of oakland's double decker cypress freeway. she's racing to meet with a customer. >> 32nd and cypress. the entire overhead of the freeway -- >> big cement beams with rebar in them just blew apart into dust. it was amazing. then i fell 25 feet. i heard people screaming and was shocked i was alive. >> the upper deck of the cypress is lying on top of dorothy's pontiac, the front of the vehicle is smashed to four inches. and her left foot is trapped by the emergency break and the crushed dashboard.

>> i tried to pull myself free and there was nothing i could do to get free. so i got a piece of paper and wrote my husband a good-bye note. >> jack, earthquake hit while i was under concrete. worst happened. it collapsed on car, i'm alive, just my left foot is stuck under the car, love you lots, good luck to us both. >> inside candlestick park where the world is watching the quake live, al michaels is scrambling to figure out what is going on. >> are we on the air or not? i'm not sure. >> players and fans are oblivious to the severity of the damage from the 6.9 magnitude quake. >> giant is awake -- >> the game will be postponed. >> there was no way to know what the damage was outside the stadium, not like a lot of ballparks where you can see downtown. >> outside, not only has the

cypress collapsed but a piece of the bay bridge has caved in. bruce stefan is driving a gray mazda on the upper deck. as a 50-foot chunk gives away. >> it was like a giant was trying to remove the table cloth, and pull it out from a bunch of dishes and shaking the bridge. >> shaking the bridge. >> yeah, and then it's dropping. >> so do you remember dropping? >> i remember dropping and the second i felt the sensation of dropping i thought it was all over. i mean, we at the time of course thought the whole bridge was falling down. and i remember screaming, we're going to die. and that is the last thing i remember. san francisco firefighter jerry shannon is heading north of the bridge to the marina district where homes are built on landfill or soft soil. making them vulnerable to shaking. so when you came over this hill

what did that look like to you? >> everybody gasped. i had never seen anything like it. >> i mean, it was so big it looked like an atom bomb. >> it is not a bomb. >> a very large building is on fire. >> it is a four-story residential building. bill and janet ray call it home. they are huddled together underneath a doorway in their second-floor apartment. >> and the next thing i knew that i was flat on my back and janet was laying on my chest. >> their home has dropped a dozen feet into the garage on the first floor. >> her head is right here. we're surrounded. >> the third floor has collapsed on top of them. leaving a space for bill and janet about two feet wide by two feet high.

>> it reminds me of a coffin. i could feel my wife's breath. i'm sure she could feel mine. >> why couldn't you move her at that point? >> there was glass or wood that was cutting into her. >> help does come. their apartment manager hears them and promises to return with rescuers. >> i was almost euphoric. i was just absolutely confident we were going to get out of there. >> and was she? >> yes. >> what bill and janet don't know is that the quake has ruptured both gas lines and water mains. >> while we were driving down you could really see water like a creek running down the middle of the street. >> firefighter jerry shannon pulls up near the ray's apartment complex to help fight the gas fume fire now heading toward them. but there is a huge problem. there is not enough water pressure to force water from the hydrants. >> the water was not going anywhere.

it was just kind of trickling out. so with no water they told us to start the search and rescue. >> jerry turns his attention to the home directly across the street. >> i'm not sure if it was a paramedic but he came up and said i think i heard somebody in that building over there. the top floor was out in the middle of the street and the first three floors were just rubble. i saw a spot under the fire escape so i stuck my head in it and i yelled is anybody in there. i didn't hear anything right away, i yelled can anybody hear me? yes, i hear you, i'm in there. >> it is a female voice. jerry is certain. and what did you think? >> i mean, i'm looking at just tons of lumber in a pile. >> there is no clear way to reach the woman trapped inside. her building is unstable. and aftershocks are making it worse. on top of that, there is a growing fire across the street. but he grabs a chain saw and starts to crawl in.

>> why did you go in? >> it's my job. >> did you have a plan? >> there was -- no. no. >> how difficult did it look to you that this rescue was going to be? >> it didn't look probable. >> still, did you remember what she said to you? >> we're not going to get out of here. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. talk to your doctor about your symptoms and learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. don't let non-24 get in the way of your pursuit of happiness.

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there is an ac transit bus, i believe. >> on the bay bridge, bus driver douglas berkhart is driving on the lower deck when the road right in front of him falls away. >> i put every ounce, i'm talking about every ounce of stretch in my leg and foot to stop the bus. >> douglas stops just feet from the gap where bruce stefan is unconscious, and hanging precariously. >> when i open my eyes on an angle, i am looking directly at the water. i have no idea why i'm still above the water. >> bruce's car is stuck on falling pieces of the bridge, caught in the steel support legs. >> all i know is this was a second chance. i mean, i was out of that car and by the hood of the car so fast that no one had gotten out of their cars on the bridge.

and in fact, i'm holding the lower road. i remember now suddenly, there was someone in the car with me. >> his co-worker, janice, who was riding with him. bruce tells her to come out of the car window. he gets her to the edge of the collapsed section but can't get her up onto the stable part of the roadway. >> and the bus driver at that moment had just gotten out of his bus, came running over and so i grabbed one of his arms and together we pulled her up onto the roadway. >> and they take up. >> it was like, get janice on the road, walk the dry ground before the whole bridge collapses. >> while the situation on the bay bridge stabilizes, conditions on the collapsed double decker cypress freeway are becoming more horrific. >> the air was a mix of burning of rubber and flesh. >> oakland firefighter lorenzo frediano ventures down to the

lower deck where dorothy otto is trapped. >> i see a woman trapped in the car. >> the car was so deformed that the dashboard, the part that was supposed to be right here was on my shins. >> the emergency brake is also impaled into dorothy's ankle. >> we started working but it was not easy. >> but nothing is working and lorenzo was quickly losing his space to work in. >> we had aftershocks and as the roof came down you had to avoid the roof crushing you. >> the space went from three and a half or three feet down to two and a half, to two feet. >> that is lorenzo in the quickly narrowing space. >> they started to leave. and i said, guys, don't leave me in here to die alone. >> i said i won't leave her, but

i said you need to make peace because i'm making peace right now. i did think i was going to die. >> 12-year-old desiree helm lives 250 miles from the crushed cypress, but she is scared out of her mind. her dad, buck helm, works right near the flattened structure and the last time she saw him things didn't go well. >> i was looking forward to going with him to the bay area and spending time with him but he told me that the baby-sitter cancelled so i couldn't go. so i was quite upset. and i said some mean things to him. >> what did you say? >> i told him that i hated him. and then he left. and i didn't really say sorry or anything. >> now in the wake of the earthquake, desire 00 has no idea where her father is. over in the marina district, firefighter jerry shannon is struggling to rescue a woman

from underneath a collapsed building. >> i was laying on my stomach with a chain saw out in front of me. there was only a two and a half foot ceiling. it was about three feet wide. so i just kept crawling with the saw and cutting. >> he can't see her so he is sawing in the dark, using her voice to guide him in the right direction. but just as jerry is making head way, his equipment fails. >> the chain saw that i was using got so dull that it would not cut anymore. so i crawled back through the bedroom and said i need another chain saw. and at that time i leaned back against the wall just to get a breather to rest my arms and then the thoughts start if something happens who will tell

my kids? how will they tell them? >> right across the street from jerry, bill and janet ray are still trapped under rubble. firefighters are now inside what is left of their building. >> and they said, don't worry we're going to get you out of there. and i could sense that there was desperation, this fellow who i never met was working so hard. to get the chain saw started. >> the firefighter tries an axe instead. >> once they got the hole cut out, a gloved hand came through the hole. i grabbed his hand. the only thing that separated me and them was two inches of sub floor. >> they're so close, but incredibly debris is no longer the main obstacle to their rescue. >> it was during the axe chopping that the smoke started to roll into the floor that we were on. and i could smell it. and that was a big concern to janet.

>> do you remember what she said to you? >> we're not going to get out of here. >> ahead, jerry's choice. >> people were yelling in from the street to get out. and she is looking at me like, are you going to leave me here? . then a little weekend to remember. join us for the celebration package...with sparkling wine, breakfast and a late checkout. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. like a bear? how about like you're on vacation... in this place! [ dolphin chittering ] sleep like you haven't seen your bed in days... no, in weeks! sleep like the kids went to nana's house... for the whole weekend!

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there have been hundreds of aftershocks since the quake first hit at 5:04. >> bodies down there -- all right. >> at the collapsed cypress freeway, each aftershock drops the top deck closer to dorothy otto. threatening to seal her and her would-be rescuer, lorenzo frediani, into their own tomb. >> she was nervous and scared, talking 100 miles an hour. >> he told me listen, you got to

shut up and stop because i can't think. >> the last thing i want to hear before i die is a woman nagging at me, and she said okay. and she stopped. >> now, about two feet of space remains and with dorothy's foot still trapped, drastic measures are required. >> we called for the surgeon to cut her foot off, he said to me, where is her foot, where is dorothy otto? >> dorothy is about to lose her foot. >> i said okay, just give me one more idea. >> lorenzo's idea is to take apart the jaws of life tool and use a small part of it like a crow bar and it works. their five-hour ordeal is over and she keeps her foot. >> boy, they popped me out like that, it was amazing. >> i made it. and then i cried. >> just 20 minutes later, the section of the cypress where dorothy was trapped completely

pancakes. over in the marina district, jerry shannon re-enters the collapsed building hoping to save the woman trapped there. >> if you want to be safe take an office job. >> because there was no way you were not going back in? >> no. >> conditions are worsening quickly. the fire that was burning in bill ray's apartment is now threatening the building where jerry is working. >> i mean, people were yelling in from the street to get out and she is hearing it. and she is looking at me like you know, are you going to leave me here? >> he is moving quickly. and soon saws through a large beam. moving it means he can finally see the woman he has been hearing for more than two hours. >> as i came over the top she had a big smile, and i said first, my name is jerry. and she said hi, i'm sharra.

>> 55-year-old shara cox, a bookkeeper, an accomplished pianist, and all that is left to free her, one final layer of debris. >> the door was on top of her, an inch away from her body. i got a chain saw. she could see the blade going around, and the noise of the chain saw, the smoke, the whole thing. >> terrifying. >> yeah, yeah, she said i trust you. >> and then, finally, sharra cox is no longer trapped. >> it was the first time in two and a half hours that i was thinking we're going to pull this off. >> this building is on fire internally. >> across the street, firefighters are trying desperately to free bill and janet ray. >> so they kept chopping. and then i heard a third person come into the room. and there was a muffled, muffle voice.

and i believe that the captain, who had come in, was pulling him out of the building and the one fireman was crying. and didn't want to go. and that is when janet started yelling, don't go, don't go. and they left without saying a word to us. it was an awful feeling. they left us to die. and that was crushing. at that point, i just told her how sorry i was. and i said we're going to get out of here. >> getting out means pulling himself through a small hole. and driving debris further into janet's back. >> so it was very painful to janet.

she said go, keep going. i told her i was going to get help. >> did you tell her you loved her? >> oh, yeah. i wasn't going to leave her. but, i got to the window and as i stood up, i fell into the bathroom and i was disoriented. >> bill ray doesn't know it yet but his leg is broken in several places. >> i strongly remember looking out the window here to where we're standing and there were 20 or 30 people looking up and this whole sidewalk, here is somebody standing in a crowd. and i can only remember his face. it must have been 50 yards from her, he got my attention.

i was yelling help me, help me, he was saying jump, jump, pointing up like that. i realized the fourth floor was fully engulfed in flames. >> bill leaps from the window as the man races across the street and pulls bill from the rubble. a fireman jumps into help. firefighters eventually get the water going. it is too late for the ray's building. >> i was yelling at the firemen, go get my wife. go get my wife. and at that point while i'm still on the ground, the fourth floor collapses. everybody went silent. including myself. because at that point i knew she was dead. i was just hysterical. >> bright, beautiful and athletic, 28-year-old janet ray is dead. what was that like for you to see that? >> it was -- very painful.

huge failure. i made a commitment i couldn't keep. >> coming up. a miracle on the cypress. >> when they were pulling out the person on the gurney, my brother said those are my tennis shoes. ♪ who's going to do it? who's going to make it happen? discover a new energy source. turn ocean waves into power. design cars that capture their emissions. build bridges that fix themselves. get more clean water to everyone. who's going to take the leap? who's going to write the code? who's going to do it? engineers. that's who. that's what i want to do. be an engineer. ♪ [ male announcer ] join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring america's future engineers. energy lives here. fifteen percent or more fifon car insurance.d save you everybody knows that. well, did you know certain cartoon characters should never have an energy drink? action! blah-becht-blah- blublublub-blah!!!

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directly across the street from bill ray's nightmare in another collapsed building, a happy ending for sharra cox. >> we just kept dragging her and when we got to the exterior wall, the paramedics were there with the gurney. >> they take sharra, but she won't get in. >> she had wedged her hands against the doors. >> i just kept saying, where is jerry, i have to have his last name. i said i have to thank him. i said no, i'm not leaving here until you get me jerry's last name. >> we walked over and she said i need your last name.

i said my last name is shannon, she goes oh, they sent an irishman. >> and i reached up and put my arms around his neck and said you're my hero. >> they put her in the ambulance and closed the door and drove away. >> on the cypress, the rescues have stopped. they say there is no chance that there is anyone left alive. >> in the pre-dawn hours of saturday morning four days after the earthquake an engineer is examining the structure to prepare for the day ahead. >> it was like in the dark, and when he was using the flash light, in the process of doing that he thought he saw something new. >> the orange county firefighter chuck nicola is helping on the

cypress, he is skeptical, but plans are made to reach the car which is about ten feet in on the lower deck. >> and i could see him, and i didn't think there was somebody alive. >> the front of the car has been crushed flat by a falling beam and the front of the upper deck is laying on the top of the door. >> i reach in there and give kind of a shake and he moves and groans or something, there is like a rush of joy. i said hey, buddy, what is your name? and he is going buck, but i didn't hear it as buck, i wasn't sure, maybe he was cursing, i don't know. >> the man in the car is saying buck, it is buck helm, desiree's dad, rescue crews used the jaws of life to get the door open. >> as we brought him out the side of the freeway you could hear a cheer. >> 250 miles away, desiree is watching tv with her mom and older brother.

>> when they pulled him out, they saw his tennis shoes. >> we knew it was him, because he convinced us he was a survivor. >> 12-year-old desiree now has a chance to apologize. >> i can tell him yes, i'm sorry for the things i said to you. >> it will be a while before she can talk to him. buck helm is badly injured. >> is most important problem was respiratory failure, couldn't breathe adequately. severe pain from the injuries, kidney shutdown, nerve damage, an inability to move his leg. at least three fractured ribs. >> they had him on a respirator. >> the man the media called

lucky buck, the one who convinced his family he could survive anything, even this, begins to get better. >> his kidneys woke back up. he was improving. >> i remember them saying he is going to be able to go home. >> up next? >> a turn for the worse. >> tell me what happened 28 days after buck's rescue.

for four weeks the last man rescued from the cypress is bucking a waging a successful battle against life threatening injuries. but then his ex-wife gets an ominous message. tell me what happened 28 days after buck's rescue. >> they gave me a beeper. and the beeper went off. and the message was get back to the hospital. the doors were shut. when they finally did opt doors,

they walked over to me -- sorry. and they told me that they had lost him. he was gone. and i still couldn't -- i couldn't believe it. >> buck helm is the 63rd person to die from the earthquake. 12-year-old desiree lose hers dad before she can apologize. >> i really was mad at myself for years because i never said sorry. >> the guilt sends her down a painful path, littered with bad decisions. and it ends with no job, her children in the custody of others, and a meth addiction. would you have ever gone down this path if your dad hadn't died in the aftermath of that quake? >> i don't think so. because i love my dad so much, i know it would have disappointed

him. and i always want mid dad to be happy with me. >> she's now married, sober, and credits her christian faith with helping her move on. >> you can't keep yourself in the past. it makes you miserable. you can't move forward. when i was able to let go of that, we've actually been very happy. >> as for jerry shannon, he becomes close friends with the woman he dubbed from the rubble sherry cox. so close, in fact, that by 2009, he's handling her medical decisions. >> really she had no family. we were the closest family that she had. >> you want to open a present. >> sure. >> diabetes is beginning to eat

away at her. >> she was having circulation problems. she toes and her foot. >> eventually, she gets gangrene. >> it got to her heart. they said we're going have to cut more off her legs. i wanted to tell her and she said, don't let them do it. no more. >> for the second time jerry shannon has her life if his hands. this time it ends differently. >> you knew she was going die without that? >> she knew it. and, yeah, we knew it. my wife filled the room full of roses because it's what she loved. i was talking to her and she said i don't want you feeling bad. she was patting my hand and said i just had 20 years on the house. and then about 5:00 in a morning i got a phone call which i knew at 5:00 in the morning that she had passed. >> dorothy otto is a medical miracle. first she's crushed on the cyprus and has no fractures, not one. >> they x-rayed me over and over and over. and they could find no broken bones. which they did not believe. >> her foot heals. >> they were afraid i would lose

the foot even after all the heroic efforts of the fire department. >> and she walks normally. she's now a breast cancer survivor, too. >> everybody's life has sunny parts and bad parts. >> in the years after the earthquake, bill ray's loss of his wife janet leads to anger about the rescue that never happened. what do you wish the firefighters had done differently that night? >> i had wished that once they cut the hole that she had told me, told us that there was a fire engulfing the building and that, you know, we only have a couple minutes. i would have cut off her leg to get her out of there. >> all right, buddy, come on. >> time, therapy, and support from a men's group finally allows bill ray to let go of that anger and to stop feeling

guilty about janet's death. >> it was really around believing in myself and accepting the fact that i'm not super man. >> then four years into his second marriage, another tragedy for bill ray. >> i woken up. there was a noise. she was breathe erratically. while i was talking to the 911 operator, her heart stopped. >> bill ray is once again staring down death, desperately trying to save his wife's life. he gives laurel cpr for 27 minutes. how much of your push to save laurel had to do with any guilt that you might have had about janet? >> a lot. >> doctors didn't think laurel would walk or write or talk again.

with bill as her advocate and caregiver, she survives and does all those things. so when people hear your story and think man this guy's had it really rough. he's had an awful, difficult life and tremendous loss, what do you say to them? >> i haven't. i've had a wonderful life. the real richness in life is the love that you get from those that you embrace the tightest. >> yeah, the weather is great here. >> today, bruce who narrowly escaped plunging off the bay bridge is back in the bay area. following the quake, he moves east with his wife and takes a job in lower manhattan. >> we worked down in the world trade towers. and my wife worked in one tower and i worked in the other.

>> which puts them both incredibly back in the middle of disaster. it's september 11, 2001. >> there was a bang. i look over and there is glass, flaming pieces of glass going by the window. >> gets out safely and his wife -- >> i remember walking saying i'm a widow. my wife could be dead. >> but hours later, he reunited with his wife who is unharmed, too. >> do you feel like there is a reason why you survived both of these events? >> i do and i don't think i found it yet. you know what i mean? why me? why me twice? >> get out! >> so what do you want people to take away and to learn from what you've gone through and what you've lived through? >> well, i think that every single moment in life is precious. that it could be taken away from you in a second.

and you just really appreciate that this is an amazing -- sorry -- a very amazing short term gift, to appreciate every moment and to appreciate fellow human beings. in the end, all we really have is each other. ahead this hour, we're hearing for the first time from the texas nurse who contracted ebola, how her case is changing the way the cdc handles the virus in the u.s. >> plus, violent confrontations between police and demonstrators in hong kong. we will take you live to the protest zones for details on an alleged case of police brutality. and later, cnn investigates what happened to u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl four months after being freed from taliban captivity. >> everyone act