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American Morning

Uncommon Courage; 'House Call'

Aired September 14, 2004 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just a few short seconds ago, Wall Street opened for business today on a Tuesday morning. The Dow 30 starting today at 10314. Home Depot, the orange honors today down on Wall Street, up about a point in trading yesterday. The Nasdaq Marketsite 1910, so a tick above 1900 right now up around Times Square. Sixteen points to the positive for the tech-heavy Nasdaq sector yesterday.
Welcome back, everyone. It's 9:31 here in New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING.

In a few moments, Aron Ralston, rock climber, forced to make unthinkable choices about 18 months ago, cutting off his arm after being trapped by a boulder. What he went through in six days is enough to fill an entire book, and he's done just that, in fact. We'll talk to him about the book and also about his experience in a moment.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's such a great story.

Also, what should parents do if their children snore? I can't wait to hear this one. It's actually a pretty serious medical concern, though. And, in fact, a lot more kids than you might think. So, Sanjay is going to be here to talk about that.

First, though, we're going to get another check on what's happening now in the news with Daryn Kagan once again at the CNN center -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning.

There is an apparent claim of responsibility for this morning's deadly attacks in Iraq. At least 59 people were killed in a bombing in Baghdad and a drive-by shooting in Baquba earlier today. According to an Islamist Web site, a group affiliated with terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi says it is behind the attack. That claim cannot be independently confirmed right now by CNN.

In the Scott Peterson murder trial the judge warned the families of Scott and Laci to stay away from one another; that, after words were exchanged last week. Yesterday, experts on satellite-tracking devices testified about the units placed on Peterson's vehicle after Laci disappeared. Testimony resumes later this morning.

In the world of sports, San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds will be chasing history tonight. Bonds need another homer to join Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players to hit 700 for their career. The Giants left-fielder belted homerun No. 699 in the ninth inning of Sunday's 5-2 win over Arizona. And, keeping in mind, Heidi, the guy gets walked more often than most teams -- entire teams.

COLLINS: Yes, unbelievable.

KAGAN: Yes.

COLLINS: Not too shabby. All right. Daryn, what's coming up at 10:00?

KAGAN: Well, speaking of the world of sports, Laila Ali, the female boxer, undefeated, daughter of you know who, joins me to talk about her next bout. She is going up a weight class, Heidi. This is a time that women want to go up, to gain weight.

COLLINS: Yes, the first time ever.

KAGAN: Exactly, it's a good thing.

COLLINS: All right. Well, don't make her mad. All right...

KAGAN: I will be very kind.

COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks so much.

HEMMER: Hurricane Ivan is being called an extremely dangerous category 4 storm this morning, headed for the U.S., a tick below category strength. Ivan ravaged Cuba's western tip yesterday, winds 160 miles an hour, heavy rains, unrelenting surfs.

As Ivan now makes its way through the Gulf, Florida's panhandle is getting ready for what could be a direct hit sometime late Wednesday, maybe early Thursday morning. A hurricane watch is in effect from New Orleans all the way to St. Marks, Florida. And Ivan could make that landfall 36 hours or so.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HEMMER: Here's Heidi.

COLLINS: Many people must wonder how they would react in a life or death situation. This morning, we look back at the story of one man's courage in the face of certain death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice over): (AUDIO GAP) story you haven't forgotten it.

ARON RALSTON, TRAPPED HIKER: I had to amputate my arm.

COLLINS: It was April 2003, and 27-year-old Aron Ralston was hiking alone in Utah's Bluejaw (ph) Canyon when an 800-pound boulder trapped his right arm. After six days of waiting and praying, he did the unthinkable. RALSTON: You really can't just cut through bones. You have to either have a bone saw or some other means. It took me about an hour, all told. It was 10:35 in the morning when I looked at my watch after I broke the bones at the wrist, and it was approximately 11:33, from what I recall, when I finished.

COLLINS: The avid mountaineer now has a book of his experience, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." It contains pictures he took while trapped.

We learn Ralston has a vision of a little blond boy who made him believe he would someday be a father, and that helped him survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had more desire to live and more desire to help us out than anybody that I've seen.

COLLINS: Ralston was trapped for six days with 22 ounces of water, two burritos, some camera equipment and a multipurpose knife.

RALSTON: There were times when I thought that I might die there.

COLLINS: After he cut his arm, he needed to rappel down a 60- foot wall and hike six miles with his arm in a makeshift sling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And that was a year and a half ago. Aron Ralston has written a book about the experience. He is here now to tell us a little bit about it.

Six days. I can't imagine the thoughts that went through your mind. They're all in there.

RALSTON: Yes. And a lot of them are focused around my family and my friends, the greatest memories of my life, the things that I was most thankful for. And it was in the spirit of saying good-bye to them and telling them that I love them, especially to my mom and my dad and my sister that that's what I put onto the videotape that I made while I was there.

COLLINS: Yes. And was that the toughest part? I mean, what were you thinking when you thought about your family?

RALSTON: It was actually some of the most uplifting time, too...

COLLINS: Really?

RALSTON: ... where I found most of my motivation to keep going in kind of an ironic way, the guilt that I felt about ruining my sister's graduation parties, and her wedding that was coming.

COLLINS: Here wedding was coming up, right?

RALSTON: Yes, exactly. That that was -- that pulled me along almost as much as the gratitude for having had so many wonderful people in my life. COLLINS: You know, when we first introduced the segment, we said we wondered how many people out there think about what they would have done in your situation. Could you have ever, in a million years, thought that you would be able to do this, cut off your own arm to save your own life?

RALSTON: Well, there was doubt and there the series of miracles that came into play that led me to survive that experience. And I think that because I was able to do it, that I think anybody would. If you'd have told me two years ago that I could have done this, I would have laughed at it, because I don't see myself as being that person who has that. But we all do, and that's what I've learned about it.

COLLINS: And I know that you have said that once you did it and you were free from that boulder, you fell back and you had almost an epiphany. This was the freest moment of your life. Tell us about it.

RALSTON: That was the euphoria that drove me through the amputation, from having had the epiphany to break the bones and then use that passageway created there to go through with the amputation. It was the best idea. It was the greatest feeling in the world to be taking action to get myself, my life back.

And the euphoria I felt just afterwards was the potential of my entire lifetime, all of the future experiences that I would have, the joys, and just all of it being present in one moment. And that was the most...

COLLINS: That must have been amazing. And the toughest part, you also said, was getting through that tendon. And not to be grotesque here, but talk about afterwards, when you finally were out of that canyon after doing that rappel that we talked about and the hike. When doctors looked at this -- I mean, there was still some pain, because the tendon obviously, you know, this part may have been dead, but up here your shoulder, there was definitely some feeling there.

RALSTON: Yes. All the way up and down my arm, the tendon, and what I had to do to get through that, cutting the nerve that runs in my arm, that was by far the most painful part of it. But all of that, even the excruciating pain of it, was part of a very beautiful experience. And that, I think, is the perspective that I have that's very unique on this...

COLLINS: I think so, too.

RALSTON: ... compared to what other people think about it.

COLLINS: Yes.

RALSTON: It's not grotesque to me. It's absolutely beautiful. And the days and months after, in the hospital, in recovery, those times were very difficult emotionally for me, for my family. And at times even I struggled with wondering whether it was worth it, because I didn't get out of that canyon to sleep 20 hours a day, to be just in a narcotic haze, to not be able to enjoy any of it. And I had to make a choice, again, to save my life, to not use those narcotics against myself.

COLLINS: Wow!

RALSTON: And...

COLLINS: People have said that you have an incredible desire to live. Before we let you go, tell us why.

RALSTON: I think it comes down to having passion in my life. I live my life by following my dreams, finding my bliss, and following the passions that are there. A lot of it revolves around my family, my friends, enjoying the company that I have in my life, and the adventures that I get to experience.

COLLINS: Aron Ralston, an inspiration would be an understatement to describe you that way, but it is a pleasure meeting you.

RALSTON: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right. Bill -- back over t

HEMMER: Wow!

In a moment here, if your child snores it might not seem like a big deal now. But Sanjay Gupta tells us it could signal serious problems down the road. We'll have that.

Also, the prizes were so big they did not fit under the seats. Try a garage. The biggest winners, though, in Oprah's unbelievable giveaway may not have been that audience in the studio. We'll tell you why after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everybody. Back to medical news now.

If your child snores, it could be a signal of future health problems, so says some anyway. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with details on this.

Good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, childhood storing is a lot more common than I thought. We're doing some research on this. About 9 percent of children actually snore and when they say snore regularly, at least three times a week. A lot of risk factors for children who snore. Take a look at some of them.

Obesity. We talk about the obesity epidemic in this country. There are consequences of that, and one of them is childhood snoring. Also daytime mouth breathing. If you are a daytime mouth breather, your child is, you're more likely to snore at night as well. Sore throat and smoking. If smoking goes on in the household, about 10 cigarettes a day, that's also linked to snoring.

Consequences to childhood snoring. It's not just problematic in terms of sleep for those around the child, but also daytime sleeping, obviously poor attention span in school, and ADHD potentially as an adult, as well. You've got to try and fix that snoring.

HEMMER: Yes. That you do. Are treatments available or what?

GUPTA: Well, you know, if you look at the causes, you can sort of figure out the treatments a little bit. First of all, in terms of obesity, just weight loss. And I don't say that to be sort of blithe, but rather it's really important to try and cut down on weight, because if you have swollen areas of fat around the adenoids or the tonsils, then that needs to be treated.

Sometimes there can be problems like the tonsils and adenoids, and they sometimes need to be taken out in children. That's a common operation.

There's also a machine known as a c-pap machine. It's a continuous pressure machine. Actually, you put it over both adults and children. You see a picture of it there. That basically forces your airways open as you sleep, as the child sleeps.

And also, Bill, there's this new operation. It just actually got approved by the FDA. I got it here. I don't know if you can see this at all. This is a little piece -- it's a little cylastic (ph) piece that's actually sewn in, in an operation, to basically try and keep the upper palette stiff. Sometimes in children who snore, that upper palette gets a little soft. You just sew that in there.

HEMMER: And that will do it?

GUPTA: That -- well, that seams to be working, yes.

HEMMER: This thing?

GUPTA: That small little thing. Well, you know, a child's palette is fairly small, yes.

HEMMER: Good to see you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks.

HEMMER: All right, here's Heidi.

COLLINS: It's almost fall, but spring is in the air for the world's fashion designers. We're on the runway for New York's Fashion Week here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, the markets are open, and a truly amazing launch for Oprah's 19th season. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," starting with the markets.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll do that. Let's check it out.

A mixed start for trading this morning and we're not really going anywhere. We're treading water. We're down 5 points on the Dow. Oil is a problem. Obviously, the hurricane in the Gulf is driving with the price there; also problems in Iraq.

One stock that could be active this morning is Federated. It's changing the name of all 184 of its stores to that of its flagship, Macy's. So from now on Rich's, Burdine's, Lazarus, Goldsmith's all across the country are all going to be called Macy's. That makes it easy for the company; maybe not easy for the consumer.

Let's talk about the big car giveaway. In case you were asleep for the past twelve hours or so, you might not know that GM -- that's General Motors, we're trying to make sure everyone knows the name of the company here -- is basking in the glow of the great Pontiac giveaway on the Oprah Winfrey show yesterday. Let's check it out and see what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH, HOST, "OPRAH": I know. There they are!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERWER: You get a car. You get a car. OK, so what happened is Oprah Winfrey gave away 276 Pontiac G-6s to everyone in her studio audience at a cost of 7.8 million.

A couple of comments. First of all, what's the matter, Oprah, couldn't afford a Cadillac?

Now, actually, it's not really Oprah's money. GM did it. So it's not really her.

Now, what about our show? What are we giving away? Well if you e-mail in to our show, we'll give you a CD of Bill Hemmer singing college fight songs sponsored by Studebaker. No, not really.

COLLINS: That would be worth a lot of money.

SERWER: Or Edsel. You take your pick.

HEMMER: Yes.

SERWER: That's not really true. Although maybe we could do that.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) get a coffee mug of us, by the way. SERWER: I thought Carol Costello gave away the coffee mug.

COLLINS: She does.

HEMMER: She does. Her show is even higher than we are.

SERWER: They got a little higher budget.

HEMMER: By the way, Macy's has its Christmas lights up. Have you seen it down around Harold's (ph) Square?

SERWER: Really?

HEMMER: Yes, white Christmas lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. It's September 14.

SERWER: It's barely...

COLLINS: That's maddening.

HEMMER: I kid you not.

SERWER: I didn't know that.

HEMMER: All right. What's up?

SERWER: Not Berdine's; Macy's.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Pontiac probably got $7 million worth of free publicity out of it.

SERWER: What was the name of the company?

COLLINS: They have already, yes.

CAFFERTY: Pontiac.

SERWER: Pontiac, yes.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, I mean, it's in all of the newspapers this morning.

SERWER: Right.

CAFFERTY: So, they probably, you know -- if they bought the...

SERWER: Air time.

CAFFERTY: ... a comparable amount of air time it would probably cost them, or maybe not.

SERWER: $70,000 for a 30-second spot.

CAFFERTY: Huh?

SERWER: $70,000 for a 30-second spot on that show. CAFFERTY: On the "Oprah" show.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Well, how much is it on AMERICAN MORNING?

SERWER: A lot. A lot of money.

COLLINS: It's about 50 bucks.

CAFFERTY: 12.50, right?

Our "Question of the Day": What should happen to the baseball player who threw a chair into the stands, hit a guy in the head, broke a woman's nose? It's a wonderful thing this punk for the Texas Rangers' relief pitcher. Do you remember his name?

HEMMER: What was his name? Francisco?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Pontiac.

CAFFERTY: Jerk.

SERWER: No.

CAFFERTY: Teresa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida: "My opinion, he and every one of his ilk should be thrown out permanently. Voicing your opinion is one thing; throwing a chair at the very people who help to support your great lifestyle is quite another. Besides, isn't it obvious to everyone by now that our children need better role models than that?

Steve in Cable, Wisconsin: "The player should be suspended for a year from baseball. The lady in the stands should have him arrested for assault and battery."

Ralph says: "The lady with the broken nose should sue" -- oh, Frank Francisco is his name. Congratulations, Frank, you win the "idiot of the week" award -- "should sue him for every dollar he makes. Once payment is made, it should be followed by his deportation to his native Dominican Republic."

Ralph says this: "I didn't spend 27 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces defending this country so immigrants like this could come here, earn in a year what I earned in a lifetime of service, and then injure American citizens."

SERWER: That's one man's take.

CAFFERTY: I'm inclined to agree with Ralph on that.

HEMMER: What do you think is going to happen to him?

CAFFERTY: Nothing's happened so far. Buck Showalter, the guy who used to manage the New York Yankees and was thought of as kind of a bright guy, said a stupid thing yesterday. He is the manager of the Rangers, saying the fans went over the line.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: I guess the implication is if they say certain things, you can pick up chairs and throw them at them and break their noses and stuff. But that was not a good comment. As far as I know, nothing has happened to this guy, so far.

HEMMER: 7:00 in the morning in Oakland.

Yes. So...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: He'll be thrown out for the rest of the year, which isn't saying much.

CAFFERTY: Which is a week and a half then, right? And then they go into the playoffs. That's probably true.

HEMMER: Fashion Week is winding down here in New York City, on a completely different matter. All the talk this week has been about the unknown designers. The industry giants, though, are getting some attention, too. Look at some of yesterday's shows here in Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR DE LA RENTA, DESIGNER: Today, we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) woman who is proud to be a woman. And what is most important to that woman is to project a sense of individually.

ANNA SUI, DESIGNER: It's like all of this interesting, like, Victor Jana (ph) again. But I felt like why don't we make it American? What could be more American than cowboys and Indians? But you'll see there is very serious feminine, flirty, pretty clothes. One of the things I always think about is, like, is this cool enough for Keith Richards? Like, I always think about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My (inaudible) come from the Mao people. I'm always fascinating about their clothes. They're so (UNINTELLIGIBLE). When I went there, I find so beautiful (UNINTELLIGIBLE) each other in their daily life, family and sexy for the modern woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extreme sophistication to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of western romp. We've got it all here, but the overriding theme has been this new femininity, new romance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: It goes until tomorrow, right?

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: So, Jack, you can jump down to...

SERWER: Jack knows all about this.

COLLINS: He does.

SERWER: You should have heard him yesterday, Bill. He was going on and on. He knows about this.

HEMMER: Did I miss it?

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: The only thing I read in the papers, they have 168 different shows to try and do it eight days, which means that it would be virtually impossible if you're a fashion editor to obviously see them all.

HEMMER: That's right.

CAFFERTY: And there's some other stuff, too, but it's not worth repeating.

COLLINS: All right. Coming up on CNN, a blast from the schoolroom past, an odd history lesson you'll want to stick around for. It's the history of the classroom filmstrip one frame at a time. That's coming up next hour with Daryn Kagan on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

AMERICAN MORNING will be back in a moment.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired September 14, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just a few short seconds ago, Wall Street opened for business today on a Tuesday morning. The Dow 30 starting today at 10314. Home Depot, the orange honors today down on Wall Street, up about a point in trading yesterday. The Nasdaq Marketsite 1910, so a tick above 1900 right now up around Times Square. Sixteen points to the positive for the tech-heavy Nasdaq sector yesterday.
Welcome back, everyone. It's 9:31 here in New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING.

In a few moments, Aron Ralston, rock climber, forced to make unthinkable choices about 18 months ago, cutting off his arm after being trapped by a boulder. What he went through in six days is enough to fill an entire book, and he's done just that, in fact. We'll talk to him about the book and also about his experience in a moment.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's such a great story.

Also, what should parents do if their children snore? I can't wait to hear this one. It's actually a pretty serious medical concern, though. And, in fact, a lot more kids than you might think. So, Sanjay is going to be here to talk about that.

First, though, we're going to get another check on what's happening now in the news with Daryn Kagan once again at the CNN center -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning.

There is an apparent claim of responsibility for this morning's deadly attacks in Iraq. At least 59 people were killed in a bombing in Baghdad and a drive-by shooting in Baquba earlier today. According to an Islamist Web site, a group affiliated with terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi says it is behind the attack. That claim cannot be independently confirmed right now by CNN.

In the Scott Peterson murder trial the judge warned the families of Scott and Laci to stay away from one another; that, after words were exchanged last week. Yesterday, experts on satellite-tracking devices testified about the units placed on Peterson's vehicle after Laci disappeared. Testimony resumes later this morning.

In the world of sports, San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds will be chasing history tonight. Bonds need another homer to join Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players to hit 700 for their career. The Giants left-fielder belted homerun No. 699 in the ninth inning of Sunday's 5-2 win over Arizona. And, keeping in mind, Heidi, the guy gets walked more often than most teams -- entire teams.

COLLINS: Yes, unbelievable.

KAGAN: Yes.

COLLINS: Not too shabby. All right. Daryn, what's coming up at 10:00?

KAGAN: Well, speaking of the world of sports, Laila Ali, the female boxer, undefeated, daughter of you know who, joins me to talk about her next bout. She is going up a weight class, Heidi. This is a time that women want to go up, to gain weight.

COLLINS: Yes, the first time ever.

KAGAN: Exactly, it's a good thing.

COLLINS: All right. Well, don't make her mad. All right...

KAGAN: I will be very kind.

COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks so much.

HEMMER: Hurricane Ivan is being called an extremely dangerous category 4 storm this morning, headed for the U.S., a tick below category strength. Ivan ravaged Cuba's western tip yesterday, winds 160 miles an hour, heavy rains, unrelenting surfs.

As Ivan now makes its way through the Gulf, Florida's panhandle is getting ready for what could be a direct hit sometime late Wednesday, maybe early Thursday morning. A hurricane watch is in effect from New Orleans all the way to St. Marks, Florida. And Ivan could make that landfall 36 hours or so.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HEMMER: Here's Heidi.

COLLINS: Many people must wonder how they would react in a life or death situation. This morning, we look back at the story of one man's courage in the face of certain death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice over): (AUDIO GAP) story you haven't forgotten it.

ARON RALSTON, TRAPPED HIKER: I had to amputate my arm.

COLLINS: It was April 2003, and 27-year-old Aron Ralston was hiking alone in Utah's Bluejaw (ph) Canyon when an 800-pound boulder trapped his right arm. After six days of waiting and praying, he did the unthinkable. RALSTON: You really can't just cut through bones. You have to either have a bone saw or some other means. It took me about an hour, all told. It was 10:35 in the morning when I looked at my watch after I broke the bones at the wrist, and it was approximately 11:33, from what I recall, when I finished.

COLLINS: The avid mountaineer now has a book of his experience, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." It contains pictures he took while trapped.

We learn Ralston has a vision of a little blond boy who made him believe he would someday be a father, and that helped him survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had more desire to live and more desire to help us out than anybody that I've seen.

COLLINS: Ralston was trapped for six days with 22 ounces of water, two burritos, some camera equipment and a multipurpose knife.

RALSTON: There were times when I thought that I might die there.

COLLINS: After he cut his arm, he needed to rappel down a 60- foot wall and hike six miles with his arm in a makeshift sling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And that was a year and a half ago. Aron Ralston has written a book about the experience. He is here now to tell us a little bit about it.

Six days. I can't imagine the thoughts that went through your mind. They're all in there.

RALSTON: Yes. And a lot of them are focused around my family and my friends, the greatest memories of my life, the things that I was most thankful for. And it was in the spirit of saying good-bye to them and telling them that I love them, especially to my mom and my dad and my sister that that's what I put onto the videotape that I made while I was there.

COLLINS: Yes. And was that the toughest part? I mean, what were you thinking when you thought about your family?

RALSTON: It was actually some of the most uplifting time, too...

COLLINS: Really?

RALSTON: ... where I found most of my motivation to keep going in kind of an ironic way, the guilt that I felt about ruining my sister's graduation parties, and her wedding that was coming.

COLLINS: Here wedding was coming up, right?

RALSTON: Yes, exactly. That that was -- that pulled me along almost as much as the gratitude for having had so many wonderful people in my life. COLLINS: You know, when we first introduced the segment, we said we wondered how many people out there think about what they would have done in your situation. Could you have ever, in a million years, thought that you would be able to do this, cut off your own arm to save your own life?

RALSTON: Well, there was doubt and there the series of miracles that came into play that led me to survive that experience. And I think that because I was able to do it, that I think anybody would. If you'd have told me two years ago that I could have done this, I would have laughed at it, because I don't see myself as being that person who has that. But we all do, and that's what I've learned about it.

COLLINS: And I know that you have said that once you did it and you were free from that boulder, you fell back and you had almost an epiphany. This was the freest moment of your life. Tell us about it.

RALSTON: That was the euphoria that drove me through the amputation, from having had the epiphany to break the bones and then use that passageway created there to go through with the amputation. It was the best idea. It was the greatest feeling in the world to be taking action to get myself, my life back.

And the euphoria I felt just afterwards was the potential of my entire lifetime, all of the future experiences that I would have, the joys, and just all of it being present in one moment. And that was the most...

COLLINS: That must have been amazing. And the toughest part, you also said, was getting through that tendon. And not to be grotesque here, but talk about afterwards, when you finally were out of that canyon after doing that rappel that we talked about and the hike. When doctors looked at this -- I mean, there was still some pain, because the tendon obviously, you know, this part may have been dead, but up here your shoulder, there was definitely some feeling there.

RALSTON: Yes. All the way up and down my arm, the tendon, and what I had to do to get through that, cutting the nerve that runs in my arm, that was by far the most painful part of it. But all of that, even the excruciating pain of it, was part of a very beautiful experience. And that, I think, is the perspective that I have that's very unique on this...

COLLINS: I think so, too.

RALSTON: ... compared to what other people think about it.

COLLINS: Yes.

RALSTON: It's not grotesque to me. It's absolutely beautiful. And the days and months after, in the hospital, in recovery, those times were very difficult emotionally for me, for my family. And at times even I struggled with wondering whether it was worth it, because I didn't get out of that canyon to sleep 20 hours a day, to be just in a narcotic haze, to not be able to enjoy any of it. And I had to make a choice, again, to save my life, to not use those narcotics against myself.

COLLINS: Wow!

RALSTON: And...

COLLINS: People have said that you have an incredible desire to live. Before we let you go, tell us why.

RALSTON: I think it comes down to having passion in my life. I live my life by following my dreams, finding my bliss, and following the passions that are there. A lot of it revolves around my family, my friends, enjoying the company that I have in my life, and the adventures that I get to experience.

COLLINS: Aron Ralston, an inspiration would be an understatement to describe you that way, but it is a pleasure meeting you.

RALSTON: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right. Bill -- back over t

HEMMER: Wow!

In a moment here, if your child snores it might not seem like a big deal now. But Sanjay Gupta tells us it could signal serious problems down the road. We'll have that.

Also, the prizes were so big they did not fit under the seats. Try a garage. The biggest winners, though, in Oprah's unbelievable giveaway may not have been that audience in the studio. We'll tell you why after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everybody. Back to medical news now.

If your child snores, it could be a signal of future health problems, so says some anyway. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with details on this.

Good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, childhood storing is a lot more common than I thought. We're doing some research on this. About 9 percent of children actually snore and when they say snore regularly, at least three times a week. A lot of risk factors for children who snore. Take a look at some of them.

Obesity. We talk about the obesity epidemic in this country. There are consequences of that, and one of them is childhood snoring. Also daytime mouth breathing. If you are a daytime mouth breather, your child is, you're more likely to snore at night as well. Sore throat and smoking. If smoking goes on in the household, about 10 cigarettes a day, that's also linked to snoring.

Consequences to childhood snoring. It's not just problematic in terms of sleep for those around the child, but also daytime sleeping, obviously poor attention span in school, and ADHD potentially as an adult, as well. You've got to try and fix that snoring.

HEMMER: Yes. That you do. Are treatments available or what?

GUPTA: Well, you know, if you look at the causes, you can sort of figure out the treatments a little bit. First of all, in terms of obesity, just weight loss. And I don't say that to be sort of blithe, but rather it's really important to try and cut down on weight, because if you have swollen areas of fat around the adenoids or the tonsils, then that needs to be treated.

Sometimes there can be problems like the tonsils and adenoids, and they sometimes need to be taken out in children. That's a common operation.

There's also a machine known as a c-pap machine. It's a continuous pressure machine. Actually, you put it over both adults and children. You see a picture of it there. That basically forces your airways open as you sleep, as the child sleeps.

And also, Bill, there's this new operation. It just actually got approved by the FDA. I got it here. I don't know if you can see this at all. This is a little piece -- it's a little cylastic (ph) piece that's actually sewn in, in an operation, to basically try and keep the upper palette stiff. Sometimes in children who snore, that upper palette gets a little soft. You just sew that in there.

HEMMER: And that will do it?

GUPTA: That -- well, that seams to be working, yes.

HEMMER: This thing?

GUPTA: That small little thing. Well, you know, a child's palette is fairly small, yes.

HEMMER: Good to see you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks.

HEMMER: All right, here's Heidi.

COLLINS: It's almost fall, but spring is in the air for the world's fashion designers. We're on the runway for New York's Fashion Week here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, the markets are open, and a truly amazing launch for Oprah's 19th season. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," starting with the markets.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll do that. Let's check it out.

A mixed start for trading this morning and we're not really going anywhere. We're treading water. We're down 5 points on the Dow. Oil is a problem. Obviously, the hurricane in the Gulf is driving with the price there; also problems in Iraq.

One stock that could be active this morning is Federated. It's changing the name of all 184 of its stores to that of its flagship, Macy's. So from now on Rich's, Burdine's, Lazarus, Goldsmith's all across the country are all going to be called Macy's. That makes it easy for the company; maybe not easy for the consumer.

Let's talk about the big car giveaway. In case you were asleep for the past twelve hours or so, you might not know that GM -- that's General Motors, we're trying to make sure everyone knows the name of the company here -- is basking in the glow of the great Pontiac giveaway on the Oprah Winfrey show yesterday. Let's check it out and see what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH, HOST, "OPRAH": I know. There they are!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERWER: You get a car. You get a car. OK, so what happened is Oprah Winfrey gave away 276 Pontiac G-6s to everyone in her studio audience at a cost of 7.8 million.

A couple of comments. First of all, what's the matter, Oprah, couldn't afford a Cadillac?

Now, actually, it's not really Oprah's money. GM did it. So it's not really her.

Now, what about our show? What are we giving away? Well if you e-mail in to our show, we'll give you a CD of Bill Hemmer singing college fight songs sponsored by Studebaker. No, not really.

COLLINS: That would be worth a lot of money.

SERWER: Or Edsel. You take your pick.

HEMMER: Yes.

SERWER: That's not really true. Although maybe we could do that.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) get a coffee mug of us, by the way. SERWER: I thought Carol Costello gave away the coffee mug.

COLLINS: She does.

HEMMER: She does. Her show is even higher than we are.

SERWER: They got a little higher budget.

HEMMER: By the way, Macy's has its Christmas lights up. Have you seen it down around Harold's (ph) Square?

SERWER: Really?

HEMMER: Yes, white Christmas lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. It's September 14.

SERWER: It's barely...

COLLINS: That's maddening.

HEMMER: I kid you not.

SERWER: I didn't know that.

HEMMER: All right. What's up?

SERWER: Not Berdine's; Macy's.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Pontiac probably got $7 million worth of free publicity out of it.

SERWER: What was the name of the company?

COLLINS: They have already, yes.

CAFFERTY: Pontiac.

SERWER: Pontiac, yes.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, I mean, it's in all of the newspapers this morning.

SERWER: Right.

CAFFERTY: So, they probably, you know -- if they bought the...

SERWER: Air time.

CAFFERTY: ... a comparable amount of air time it would probably cost them, or maybe not.

SERWER: $70,000 for a 30-second spot.

CAFFERTY: Huh?

SERWER: $70,000 for a 30-second spot on that show. CAFFERTY: On the "Oprah" show.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Well, how much is it on AMERICAN MORNING?

SERWER: A lot. A lot of money.

COLLINS: It's about 50 bucks.

CAFFERTY: 12.50, right?

Our "Question of the Day": What should happen to the baseball player who threw a chair into the stands, hit a guy in the head, broke a woman's nose? It's a wonderful thing this punk for the Texas Rangers' relief pitcher. Do you remember his name?

HEMMER: What was his name? Francisco?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Pontiac.

CAFFERTY: Jerk.

SERWER: No.

CAFFERTY: Teresa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida: "My opinion, he and every one of his ilk should be thrown out permanently. Voicing your opinion is one thing; throwing a chair at the very people who help to support your great lifestyle is quite another. Besides, isn't it obvious to everyone by now that our children need better role models than that?

Steve in Cable, Wisconsin: "The player should be suspended for a year from baseball. The lady in the stands should have him arrested for assault and battery."

Ralph says: "The lady with the broken nose should sue" -- oh, Frank Francisco is his name. Congratulations, Frank, you win the "idiot of the week" award -- "should sue him for every dollar he makes. Once payment is made, it should be followed by his deportation to his native Dominican Republic."

Ralph says this: "I didn't spend 27 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces defending this country so immigrants like this could come here, earn in a year what I earned in a lifetime of service, and then injure American citizens."

SERWER: That's one man's take.

CAFFERTY: I'm inclined to agree with Ralph on that.

HEMMER: What do you think is going to happen to him?

CAFFERTY: Nothing's happened so far. Buck Showalter, the guy who used to manage the New York Yankees and was thought of as kind of a bright guy, said a stupid thing yesterday. He is the manager of the Rangers, saying the fans went over the line.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: I guess the implication is if they say certain things, you can pick up chairs and throw them at them and break their noses and stuff. But that was not a good comment. As far as I know, nothing has happened to this guy, so far.

HEMMER: 7:00 in the morning in Oakland.

Yes. So...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: He'll be thrown out for the rest of the year, which isn't saying much.

CAFFERTY: Which is a week and a half then, right? And then they go into the playoffs. That's probably true.

HEMMER: Fashion Week is winding down here in New York City, on a completely different matter. All the talk this week has been about the unknown designers. The industry giants, though, are getting some attention, too. Look at some of yesterday's shows here in Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR DE LA RENTA, DESIGNER: Today, we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) woman who is proud to be a woman. And what is most important to that woman is to project a sense of individually.

ANNA SUI, DESIGNER: It's like all of this interesting, like, Victor Jana (ph) again. But I felt like why don't we make it American? What could be more American than cowboys and Indians? But you'll see there is very serious feminine, flirty, pretty clothes. One of the things I always think about is, like, is this cool enough for Keith Richards? Like, I always think about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My (inaudible) come from the Mao people. I'm always fascinating about their clothes. They're so (UNINTELLIGIBLE). When I went there, I find so beautiful (UNINTELLIGIBLE) each other in their daily life, family and sexy for the modern woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extreme sophistication to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of western romp. We've got it all here, but the overriding theme has been this new femininity, new romance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: It goes until tomorrow, right?

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: So, Jack, you can jump down to...

SERWER: Jack knows all about this.

COLLINS: He does.

SERWER: You should have heard him yesterday, Bill. He was going on and on. He knows about this.

HEMMER: Did I miss it?

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: The only thing I read in the papers, they have 168 different shows to try and do it eight days, which means that it would be virtually impossible if you're a fashion editor to obviously see them all.

HEMMER: That's right.

CAFFERTY: And there's some other stuff, too, but it's not worth repeating.

COLLINS: All right. Coming up on CNN, a blast from the schoolroom past, an odd history lesson you'll want to stick around for. It's the history of the classroom filmstrip one frame at a time. That's coming up next hour with Daryn Kagan on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

AMERICAN MORNING will be back in a moment.

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