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Breast Cancer Surgery Not Needed?; Storm Batters Midwest; Ecstasy: How To Use Safely; Lohan To Be Charged In Necklace Theft; Student Athlete Killed by Cop; Eggs Healthier Than You Think

Aired February 09, 2011 - 07:59   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here now. Good morning to you all. Welcome to this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

We do have some breaking news we're following right now. A hijacked supertanker full of crude oil, hijacked in the North Arabian Sea. Here's a map to show where this happened. The tanker named Irene SL was attacked by armed men off the coast of Oman, this morning. The ship headed from the United Arab Emirates to the Egyptian port of Suez. It was then to go on, eventually, to the U.S. Gulf Coast. A crew of 25 aboard this ship, which is a Greek-flagged ship. Seven Greeks, seventeen Filipinos, and one Georgian on board. No Americans. So far, there has been no communication with this hijacked supertanker. We're following developments closely this morning.

HOLMES: Also as always, we're following closely what's happening in Egypt. And an interesting development from the Muslim Brotherhood, that's banned opposition group there that is now participating in the talks with the Mubarak government. Well, they are saying now that they want to participate in the government but not dominate.

There's been a lot of speculation about who would take over if Mubarak's government step down. A lot of people said, we want the Muslim Brotherhood to take over. Well, they are saying that it is not what they want to do.

Meanwhile, some of the pictures you are seeing from the past several days here -- protesters still not leaving Tahrir Square overnight, still demanding that Mubarak step down. They've been spending their nights in tents, saying police as well have returned to the streets to try to protect the citizens and their security. Also, they have been asking the protesters to cooperate with them. Just some of the latest developments there.

CHETRY: Well, changing the way that doctors may treat breast cancer in the future, a disease that affects tens of thousands of women each year -- one that hits close to home for millions of women and men.

HOLMES: And a new study now saying that some victims may be able to avoid a painful and complicated surgery. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with us.

Sanjay, good to have you. We say that dangerous and complicated surgery. That is kind of what's just been standard there. It's just been going along -- of course, you're supposed to have the surgery to remove all of the lymph nodes and try to get everything out.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the standard sort of thinking after a long time. Get all of the cancer out.

And I'll tell you something else: medicine moves really slow. You guys are used to the fast pace of television.

HOLMES: Yes.

GUPTA: To make changes in medicine is a big deal. You know, for a long time, it was these really invasive, aggressive procedures if someone had breast cancer. You take out the breast tissue, but also surrounding tissue, all the lymph nodes and then it started to become less and less invasive over the years. This is, again, one of those pivotal moments perhaps in breast cancer surgery. Tens of thousands of women in the United States alone are affected by this.

But the thinking is simply this, that lymph nodes, the place that cancer can go sometimes when it starts to spread, if you take all of them out, it can be a very debilitating thing to a woman. And what they find is that if you just take one out to find out if a woman has cancer or not, it makes no difference in survival. Taking out all of those extra lymph nodes doesn't seem to make a difference.

Take a look at the survival rates overall: 17 lymph nodes, 91.8 percent; just two lymph nodes, 92.5 percent.

CHETRY: And is this because oftentimes in these cases, you're also getting a complimentary treatment? It's not --

GUPTA: That's right.

CHETRY: -- just surgery you're doing, radiation or chemo, because you don't know where the cancer --

GUPTA: Absolutely. And this was so fascinating, Kiran -- so, if someone has cancer, they will inject the cancer with a little bit of dye. What they are trying to figure out where would this cancer go if it started to spread? The dye will tell you. They'll take out that lymph node where the dye goes and they'll make their decisions based on that.

But if it has spread, the thinking has to be that it has spread other places as well. Simply removing it through surgery is not going to do the trick. You've got to give radiation. You've got to give chemotherapy and then you get the same survival rate.

So, you know, it makes a huge difference. And, by the way, I'll tell you that lymph node procedure, it's really quite invasive. These women, they complain about this more than anything else. They get swelling of the arm; they get numbness; this burning sensation -- all of those symptoms there.

And a lot of times the women have these procedures done at a young age. So, the rest of their lives they are dealing with an arm that just doesn't work as well as it used to.

HOLMES: You talk about slowly medicine often moves. But it's been a long time and this has been in the psyche of women, breast cancer, of course, will have these lymph nodes removed. How do you convince that woman and also convince doctors now that you don't have to do that?

GUPTA: Well, I think they are both going to be difficult. You know, patients kind of feel the same way. They want the cancer out of their bodies. They've got to be convinced that the survival rates are going to be no different and they're going to have a much better quality of life with a less aggressive surgery.

Doctors could be harder sometimes. There are some places that are already starting to do this, but it's that culture that's so hard to change. Get the cancer out at all costs and that just doesn't seem to make that big of a difference here.

CHETRY: You know, it could be absolutely groundbreaking in how cancer is treated.

Sanjay, great to have you with us this morning.

HOLMES: Thanks, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks.

CHETRY: In 10 minutes, we're going to be speaking with one of the lead authors of this study, Dr. Monica Morrow. She's also a surgical oncologist at one of the leading cancer treatment centers in the world, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York.

HOLMES: Well, one week after an epic monster storm, Midwest is getting hit again this morning by another epic monster storm.

You know, I'll throw that in there. I don't know if it's necessarily as big. We'll ask our folks here in a second. But several states are facing another foot of snow and some really debilitating temperatures.

CHETRY: It looks pretty bad. Ed Lavandera is out in it and he's in Oklahoma City this morning.

I know they were telling people stay off the streets, stay inside if you can. What's it like?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think any time the wind chill is at minus 15 or close to minus 15 degrees, close zero, you should be able to call it "epic" because it's just absolutely painful out here this morning. The snow has been falling quite heavily throughout Oklahoma and now starting to trickle into north Texas as well; 12 inches of snow in the Tulsa area.

The snow isn't as bad here in Oklahoma City where we are as last week. Remember, this is a town, an area that pretty just finished digging out from last week's storm. So, schools closing again; airports shut down as well -- another dramatic day and another painfully cold day here in Oklahoma.

CHETRY: Ed Lavandera for us this morning out in it and, boy, those subzero wind chills ridiculous, a lot of people are dealing with that today. Thanks so much.

HOLMES: We'll turn to our Rob Marciano now and the extreme weather center.

And, Rob, I got ahead of myself and I called this one an epic monster storm. Do I need to back it off a little bit?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Maybe, you know -- only because of the winter we've had, you know? If this was a normal winter, I think we'd be using those words, T.J. and Kiran, but it's been such an unbelievable storm possessed winter from the East Coast, the Midwest and to the South and the mid-plains which is where the storm is now.

Six to 10 inches of snow expected in Oklahoma City; eight to 14 across parts of Tulsa; maybe four to 8 in places like Little Rock; two to four in Memphis. So, these are spots that typically don't get snow. So, in winter storm warnings are posted for these states, about eight of them in total, and one to three potentially in Dallas.

Right now, it's snowing heavily in parts of Oklahoma City. The back edge of the snow is about to come through Oklahoma City. So, that's good news there, but looks to be increasing as it gets into Arkansas.

Temperatures dropping in Dallas. We've been on the 30s, down to about 19 degrees, right now at DFW. We've got sleet, freezing rain and snow around the Dallas area, and winds gusting over 30 miles an hour. That is just awful, awful stuff.

All right. As far as the other big part of the story, obviously, temperatures 16 in parts of Dallas and six in Kansas City. So, the core of the cold air is here. It will sink to the south and east and moderate a little bit. But the problem is going to be that it's got moisture with it.

So, here's how the storm is going to progress across northern parts of Louisiana. Arkansas -- everybody in Arkansas is going to get a piece of some snow. Memphis, we mentioned, northern parts of Mississippi and Alabama continues to scoot across the Florida Panhandle. And Atlanta gets a little bit of snow as well, probably an inch or less so it won't be as debilitating or paralyzing as the last snowstorm coming through here. But places like Little Rock will see significant snow.

And whenever you talk over a foot in Tulsa, that's big-time. But, you know, just remember this -- let me show you this video again because we just had this event about a week ago on February 2nd. That groundhog, Phil, that lovely little rodent, the rodent, came out of his little hole and he didn't see a shadow. So -- I mean, we're waiting on an early spring. We're still waiting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- carefully and found that there was no shadow around!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Boom! Spring comes early, OK? Mother Nature not quite cooperating. We will see a significant warm-up this weekend for everybody, except the Northeast.

CHETRY: Where Phil lives. I don't know if I buy it, though, but he also said the Steelers were also going to win, right?

MARCIANO: That's true. Yes, I mean, quite honestly, he's never been the best forecaster. It's all -- it's all for TV.

HOLMES: Yes. Right. Rob, we appreciate it as always.

MARCIANO: Hang in there, guys.

HOLMES: Talk to you again here shortly.

MARCIANO: All right.

HOLMES: Well, coming up, as we know, college coaches, they are used to handing out scholarships to players. One college coach just gave out one of his kidneys to a player. You'll love this story.

CHETRY: Also President Obama, according to the first lady, he's finally been able to kick the smoking habit. She's going to give us details on that still ahead.

Eight minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: To be a fly on the White House walls today.

Good morning, Washington, D.C.

Big meeting -- power meeting we can call it happening today, a power lunch. The president is meeting with Republican leaders. Some of those same Republican leaders who are still trying to dismantle his health care reform law. We'll see what happens in that meeting. Hopefully, they'll come out and tell us a little bit about it.

But it's 22 degrees right now in Washington, D.C., 38 a little later.

Meanwhile, the vice president, Vice President Joe Biden, he has announced a plan for a $53 billion high speed rail. This thing could cover some 1,900 miles. He compared it to building the interstate system in this country. A lot of people are wondering, $53 billion, how are you going to pay for that with an administration that's promising to show exactly how they'll do that when the budget is revealed next week.

Meanwhile, more news about the president this time: President Obama has apparently kicked the habit. The habit we're talking about is smoking. Many people know the president has -- over the past years, he has smoked. But for the past year, roughly, according to the first lady, he has not had a cigarette. And the first lady says the president wanted to do this to be able to tell his daughters the truth if they ask him if he smokes -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, T.J., thanks.

Well, breast cancer affects one out of every eight women in the United States. Meaning if it hasn't touched your family or friends yet, throughout your lifetime, unfortunately, it probably will.

This morning, though, there's some new information that many of the women affected might be -- welcome news this morning that perhaps surgery that happens to treat best cancer might be unnecessary and they might not do it any more. It's been a common practice but thanks to a new study published in a journal of the American Medical Association, things are slowly starting to change.

Dr. Monica Morrow is an oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center here in New York. And she's also the lead author of this study.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

DR. MONICA MORROW, MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: Thank you.

CHETRY: We're talking about the decision about whether or not to remove cancerous lymph nodes as part of the surgical treatment for cancer. What did your study reveal about this?

MORROW: What this study shows is that for women having lumpectomy and radiation to their entire breast, you could only take out one or two nodes, the central nodes, and leave the rest behind, end up with the same survival, a really low risk of cancer reoccurring in the armpit and far fewer sides affects. So, a really good news for women.

CHETRY: Now, I understand you guys have been doing this the past six months. How has it been received? There is such a fear about leaving any cancer cells behind.

MORROW: Well, I think the point is we're not leaving cancer cells behind. We're just treating them in a different way than with surgery. We're killing them with radiation. We're killing them with drugs.

And patients have been remarkably receptive to this because they fear the side affects of lymph node surgery.

CHETRY: And explain for people what those side effects are. I mean, you think, boy. I've gone through this, you know, lumpectomy or mastectomy, how could removing a few lymph nodes in my armpits be the worst part of this?

MORROW: Well, removing a few lymph nodes generally isn't the worst part. But if you have to take them all out, there's a lifetime risk of arm swelling or lymphedema, which affects as many as 20 percent, 25 percent of women. There's numbness in the upper inner aspect of the arm. There can be decreased motion in the arm. And it's a longer postoperative recovery.

So, by taking out only a few, we dramatically reduced the risk of those things happening.

CHETRY: Is there a downside?

MORROW: Based on our study the likelihood of cancer reoccurring in the armpit, which is the biggest downside and the most obvious thing we could think of is less than 1 percent at six years. So, basically, you are saving 100 women a surgery that's not going to benefit them for one woman who might need that surgery in the future.

CHETRY: And speaking of that, this doesn't necessarily apply to all women, right? There are certain -- they have to meet certain criterions. So, if you're trying to figure out whether or not this is the best thing for you or your loved one, where do you start?

MORROW: Well, that's a very important point. This applies to women who are having lumpectomy and radiation, not mastectomy. It applies to women who do not have abnormal nodes to feel on their physical exam and who have not received chemotherapy as a treatment before surgery. So, I think you need to ask your doctor do I fit the criteria for this study.

CHETRY: And what about to your other colleagues out there, other doctors across country who are performing breast surgeries? How do you bring them on board and get them to, perhaps, change thinking which for so long has been let's get these nodes out?

MORROW: Well, change is definitely hard, but I think this is not a finding in isolation. It fits with everything else that we've learned about breast cancer over the past 20 years. Namely that much of the behavior is driven by the biology, the genetics of the tumor. We've learned that we can do less surgery in the breast itself substituting lumpectomy and radiation from mastectomy as a routine. And this is just the next step in that evolution as drug therapy gets better, surgery can get smaller.

CHETRY: Well, it's certainly very promising for many people out there. Dr. Monica Morrow, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

MORROW: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: T.J. HOLMES: All right. Kiran, thank you.

You remember the days when they would tell teenagers just say no to drugs? Well, instead, health officials in one city, not saying just say no, they're actually giving them advice and safety tips on how to use ecstasy safely. We'll tell you about that.

Plus, it's not the vacation they dreamed about. We got video of when hippos attack. It's coming up. It's 16 minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. "Morning Talker Time."

A new public service campaign in Los Angeles is creating a lot of controversy. Sort of a how to guide to safely use ecstasy. Can you safely use ecstasy? Well, they plan to distribute these flyers at rave parties and other events. It describes the affects of an overdose, tips on how to minimize potential harm. The L.A. County supervisor says that counseling young people on the use of an illegal drug is stupid and contrary to their zero tolerance policy.

HOLMES: Los Angeles district attorney also expected today to charge Lindsay Lohan, a troubled star, expected to be charged this time with felony grand theft, accused of leaving a jewelry store with $2,500 necklace and not paying for it. I believe that's called stealing. Lohan's attorney says the client is innocent, and this was all kind of a misunderstanding, and they will fight the charges.

CHETRY: These next pictures are enough to stop anyone in their tracks. Kids swimming just inches from massive polar bears. This is photoshop? No, this -- maybe, they're a trick of the eye. Here's what you don't see. A 10-inch thick sheet of Plexiglas that separates them. It's at the polar bear habitat in Ontario, Canada. The owners of the sanctuary say that the new set up was created to give the bears as much stimulation as possible. Ten-inch thick, OK? Would you still trust -- your kids swim around that?

HOLMES: Stimulation for the bears to just tease them and to hear some children maybe you can -- really?

All right. (INAUDIBLE) Plexiglas between these tourists now and these hippos. OK. People go on these excursions. They go to safaris when they're in Africa, and this is what happened on a lake in Kenya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's close. That is close! There's another one. Where's the other one? Being chased by a hippo. He is coming! Oh, no! Oh, no!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's all fun and games until somebody gets eaten by a hippo. The men, one of the females felt threatened and went after them. Now, these are some pretty dangerous land animals here, but didn't know maybe they could swim like they do. Clearly, they were able to keep up with this boat.

CHETRY: Yes. Apparently, the deadliest wild animal out there in terms of attacks on humans. Did you encounter any on your Safari.

HOLMES: I saw some when I was in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. I saw several. They were way over there, I was way over there.

CHETRY: That's the smart way. I was at a zoo in Nepal where they don't have as many restrictions on how close you can get to the animals, and I was trying to feed monkeys some peanuts or something and he grabbed my hair. Grabbed my hair through the bars and was pulling in, but I screamed loud enough that the monkey, like, let me get away from this crazy lady and let go. It's all in the risk, you know? Are you willing to take it to see wildlife up close.

A college degree for 10,000 dollars, including your books? That sounds like a pretty good deal. Christine Romans explains who wants to put this plan into action.

HOLMES: All right. Also this morning, story of the morning that you are going to love. A college baseball coach donates a kidney to one of his players. It's 22 minutes past the hour. Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-five past the hour. We're "Minding Your Business" this money. The number of African-Americans who own businesses in the U.S. was on the rise just before the recession. According to the U.S. census, between 2002 and 2007, that number soared 60 percent. That's more than triple the national rate. The National Urban League says that the -- while the number of businesses increased, most remain small, making less than $50,000 a year.

HOLMES: Also, the Super Bowl, ah, they just couldn't get it right in a lot of ways. You know about the sea flap (ph), about Christina Aguilera -- oh, that stuff. The game was great, thank goodness, but, a lot of people scratching their head about the flyover. Did you see it? Maybe you did. You were the only ones who did see it because the folks inside the stadium did not.

You know why? They have a retractable roof that was closed at the time. Now, these flyovers are not cheap. Jet fuel, I believe those prices are going up, Christine. $450,000 for that flyover. You could only see it if you were sitting at home watching it. Now, they justify this expense. The navy, apparently, picked up this tab, but they say it's good for recruiting. Again, you're at home --

CHETRY: Yes. 111 million people saw it.

HOLMES: Much bigger, but any of us who've been to a game, you know, you're sitting there, and it's one of the coolest parts. You get to see the flyover, but they did not see it at Texas Stadium. CHETRY: I'm thinking it also might have distracted, perhaps, from Christina Aguilera messing up that one line, you know, if you heard the jets coming over head.

HOLMES: She would --

CHETRY: She would have an excuse.

HOLMES: Four hundred who did not get seats for the game, maybe they saw the flyover if that's an upside, doubt it.

CHETRY: Sorry.

Well, not only is your boss giving you more work these days. Chances are your boss is making you do more work in less space. The average American office worker had 90 square feet of work space. That was back in 1994. Now, it's just down to 75 square feet. Bosses have seen their office shrink as well as they try to save on commercial rent. Poor Milton. Somewhere, he's looking for a stapler.

HOLMES: Yes, and Jason is laughing (ph) as Jason had a nice office here at the Time Warner Center here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I was just thinking maybe people are getting bigger.

CHETRY: Oh! Office is getting smaller, people getting bigger. Not fun.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: This is a good idea to bring him in to this conversation. Christine, let me turn to you. It seems like every housing story we have that we mind our business is not a good one. Is this going to be different?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I got another one for you.

HOLMES: It's a good one?

ROMANS: No, it's not good. Look, the only good thing about it is that, according to the folks at Zillow, it's so bad that maybe it means we're getting closer to the bottom of the housing market. The home price declines in the fourth quarter accelerated. That's not good. It means home prices still moving -- they call it the tax credit hangover. They say that the home buyer tax credit from last year actually delayed the bottom in certain markets most notably in California and some other places as well.

So, you have home values down at 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter. They're now down nationwide 27 percent since the peak in 2006 and also 27 percent, the share of mortgages that are under water. What does underwater mean? Well, you are underwater. You know exactly what it means. It means you owe more on the house than the house is worth. And the number of people who are selling their house for a loss has been accelerating late last year. Foreclosures are expected to pick up this year. So, there you go.

CHETRY: Pick up? When are we seeing a bottom to any of this?

ROMANS: I'm telling you, it is really ugly still. It is ugly, but the people at Zillow, they say, look, short term, it's very painful here. Longer term, though, we think that we're getting closer. They're saying it's completely a double dip in certain markets. Double dip means you hit a bottom. You thought you were done. You came up a little bit, and then, boom, you went down again. So, this is still a very painful situation.

But now, as people starts selling their houses for a loss, selling their houses for a loss, that's where it's going to go now. I just want to give you some interesting idea here. Governor Rick Perry in Texas in his state of the state address. Get little bit (ph) notice for something in there that he talks about a $10,000 dollar soup to nuts college education. He says people can't afford it.

People can't afford to be properly educated to compete in the new economy and to the new -- let's make it cheaper for kids to go to school. How would you do it? Web-based construction using more of this job computer-type programming, textbooks blackboard, everything, using innovative teaching techniques, really try to think smart about this, and aggressive efficiency measures.

Let's wring out profits for some places where they don't need to make all of that money in education. Let's try to figure out how to get a $10,000 education to kids. Don't know if it's going to fly. Don't know if it's going to move forward, but at least, it's one of those ideas out there.

Look. It's tough. You got a house that is losing value and you're going to graduate from college with $24,000 in student debt, we have to start thinking up innovative ideas. It will be interesting, if they can do it, if you can get the higher education system to go along with it.

HOLMES: Christine, thank you, this morning.

CHETRY: Time for our top stories. We're crossing the half hour. An oil supertanker hijacked by armed men off the coast of Oman this morning. It was a Greek flagship en route from the United Arab Emirates to the United States with over 260,000 tons of crude oil. It was reportedly bound for the Gulf Coast. No Americans among the crew of 25. They were Greek as well as Georgian and Filipino. All efforts to make contact with the ship so far have failed.

HOLMES: Also here the latest word getting out of Egypt, an interesting development this morning coming from the Muslim Brotherhood. You've hear a lot about this banned group is now part of the conversation, one of the opposition groups talking to the Mubarak government.

But they say they do not want to participate -- rather, they want to participate and not dominate, I should say. Many speculate maybe they wanted to run the government once Mubarak stepped down. They say this is not the case. They do not want a religious state.

Meanwhile, protesters continue to stay in Tahrir Square. They didn't leave overnight. They have tents set up there. Egypt is saying police have returned to the streets to try to protect citizens and to protect -- and to ensure some security there. They're also asking the protesters to cooperate with them.

CHETRY: A stunning change in the way we treat breast cancer in the future. There is a new study saying women with early stage breast cancer don't need surgery to remove lymph nodes from the armpit surgery. The study was published yesterday and already some of the nation's leading cancer centers are changing their practices because of it.

HOLMES: And just a heartbreaking story in a lot of ways for a lot of folks. The young man you're seeing there is a high school basketball star in Miami. His name is Brian Delancy. He is from the Bahamas, and now he has been ruled ineligible to play in the district playoffs that begin this week.

The Florida High School Athletic Association says his school never filed the proper paper work about his immigration status. Listen to this. The team had a season that he played in and they got to 20-3. The playoffs start now. The athletic association says the team is going to have to forfeit 19 games that he played in. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We worked very hard to get where we are today and that we hope that we get further on to the state championship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's right there in the Florida constitution. You don't have to show your status in the Florida constitution. You have a right to a good public education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I want to do is go to school and play ball. I love doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So we're going a couple of different ways here. You see the direction maybe this is going to go. There will be a court fight certainly going to court this afternoon trying to get an injunction so he can actually compete in the playoffs, but who knows what this might mean for him long term if his immigration status is not up to par and where it needs to be? This could mean other things for him down the road long term.

But again, sounds like in a lot of ways a good, young man and you feel bad for the team, but maybe larger implications here besides athletics.

CHETRY: Well, you might say he is the ultimate players' coach. Tom Walter, head coach of the Wake Forest baseball team donated one of his kidneys to a player, a freshman center fielder. Jason Carroll has been following this remarkable story for us this morning. And talk about sacrifice. This coach was right there for his player.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He called it a "no- brainer." Can you believe it? He was so modest about that. Said it was a no-brainer.

Kevin Jordan was actually selected by the New York Yankees in the amateur draft but Jordan decided to play baseball for Wake Forest University. That decision may have ultimately saved his life. Earlier this week, his coach, Tom Walter, you just heard about, donated one of his kidneys to Jordan. Both are now recovering at Emory University hospital in Atlanta. Coach Walter is up and actually walking around and made his first visit to his outfielder yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM WALTER, BASEBALL COACH, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: I would do it 1,000 times out of 1,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: A little over a year ago Jordan was diagnosed with an auto immune disease that eventually led to kidney failure. The search was on for a donor, but none of Jordan's family members were a match.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN JORDAN, BASEBALL PLAYER, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: We tried about all of the people that we knew to be donors, and coach came up clinch. He came through and it was a match. I'm just so thankful and happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Jordan says he already feels a difference not having to be on dialysis. He'll need to be on medication to keep his new kidney functioning properly but his doctors say that shouldn't stop the star athlete from competing again. Expectations he will resume playing in the 2012 season and Coach Walter plans to be back at work and in the dugout when wake forest plays LSU next Friday.

Both the coach and Jordan will be speaking at a press conference a little later on today. Absolutely an incredible story. You hear about so many people doing things only for themselves in this day and age, and to see someone doing like this is really inspiring.

CHETRY: It sure is. He was so lucky he was a match.

CARROLL: His father called it a divine intervention. What are the chances? You end up going to a school like this and none of your family members are a match, and your coach ends up being a match and is willing to do it.

CHETRY: Great story. Following the press conference today?

CARROLL: Absolutely. Yes.

CHETRY: Thanks, Jason.

HOLMES: Also coming up, a different story about a college athlete, college football player shot and killed by police after his homecoming game. Officers say he tried to speed away from a bar fight and hit two police officers with his car. One ended up clinging to the windshield of the moving car, but his parents say parts of this story are missing. They will be here live with us next on this "AMERICAN MORNING."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It looks like the happy reunion didn't last long. You may remember the story of Carlina White who was stolen from a Harlem, New York hospital when she was just 19 days old, finally reunited with her biological mother and father after 23 years.

Now her mother, Joy White, tells the "New York Post" that she may have lost her daughter again, and they are like strangers. Carlina returned home to Georgia. White also tells the paper that they are fighting over the $750,000 settlement she got from the city after suing the hospital for negligence.

Well, the country's only living Medal of Honor recipient from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is now leaving the army. Staff Sergeant Salvador Giunta plans to continue his education using the G.I. Bill. Giunta was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during a 2007 battle with the Taliban.

HOLMES: Danroy Henry Jr. is a young man from my research people said he would literally give you the shirt off his back and some occasions did just that. He's a student athlete at Pace University in New York.

This young man was killed last October, shot while driving away from a bar. Police officers opened fire after being hit by D.J. as he was known, being hit by D.J.'s car. The debate is whether D.J. purposely drove into that officer.

Witnesses say the officer suddenly stepped into the road and no one had time to stop before hitting him. The family thinks otherwise and many witnesses believe otherwise. The family in the early stages of possibly filing a lawsuit against the police officers. The grand jury is also now investigating.

D.J.'s parents are joining me this morning, Danroy Henry Sr. and Angela Henry, both here. Thank you so much for being here. I know this has been a trying time, things you're going through, not just the loss, but the media attention and also the grand jury right now.

But if we can, we have a picture up. I want to get a shot of this one picket we just have in the backdrop here. And Mrs. Henry, you sat down here with me and you immediately asked for a tissue just when you saw that picture. What does that picture mean to you and your family when you see that? ANGELA HENRY, SON WAS KILLED BY POLICE OFFICER: It means love, family, happy times, and when I see that, I just -- I remember that day clearly and it just reminded me of how happy we all were together.

HOLMES: What do we not know? I'm not going to get into the details what have is happening with the case and what not. But what do you think, Mr. Henry, we are missing or in the coverage, maybe we haven't been talking enough about your son and the kind of young man he was.

DANROY HENRY, SR., SON WAS KILLED BY POLICE OFFICER: Yes, I don't know that we don't know much about him. I think it's pretty clear who D.J. is and who he was and how he lived his life. I don't think we'll ever know why Aaron Hess started --

HOLMES: The police officer?

DANROY HENRY, SR.: The police officer from Pleasantville, why he started this engagement at the level of deadly force. We know he did it, but we don't know why he did it.

HOLMES: And you all have talked about this whole journey right now is just trying to get at and find the truth. At this point, do you all even feel like you know the truth about what happened that night?

ANGELA HENRY: I believe we do, based on the witnesses, based on Brandon, who was in the front seat, based on forensic evidence that we have a pretty good idea of what happened that night.

HOLMES: And to catch our viewers up a little bit here. The way the story goes, your son sitting in front in a fire lane, I guess we would call it. He was sitting. One officer directed him to drive his car just to get out of way maybe.

As he was driving through that parking lot, depending on who you talk to, which side, some say the officer jumped in front of his vehicle, others say that your son sped up to hit the officer. You all don't believe he sped up at all that evening. Then I guess the story goes, at least for you, Mr. Henry, is that this officer stepped in front of the vehicle. Why?

DANROY HENRY, SR.: Well, the officer himself said he stepped in front of the car. He said he stepped from the curb what would be a safe position into the path of the car as the car was coming towards him. What we believe happened is actually our son was maneuvering through a very crowded parking lot at a low rate of speed. The car itself confirms that it was a low rate of speed. This wasn't a high speed of impact. This officer stepped from the curb into the pathway of the car and hit by the car but he was already ready to use deadly force and his gun was already out un-holstered. Why, we don't know.

HOLMES: Is this a training issue, because we have had incidents before of officers. Is this a training issue of maybe that officer overreacted or do you believe he had malicious intent?

DANROY HENRY, SR.: It could be all of the above.

HOLMES: Have you talked to that officer?

DANROY HENRY, SR.: No.

HOLMES: Do you want to?

ANGELA HENRY: No.

DANROY HENRY, SR.: I would love to talk to him, because I'd love to ask him why. Officers aren't trained to escalate risk. One of the first things they are taught in the academy to go home at night. This guy started at a level where he had taken this to a level of urgent need to act that goes beyond what the situation called for.

HOLMES: You said yes, and you quickly didn't want to speak to him. Why not?

ANGELA HENRY: I think right now, I'm just too angry and I don't think I would have anything nice to say to him. I'm just angry.

HOLMES: Is that a matter of time?

ANGELA HENRY: It is. I think it's still raw for us. The pain is indescribable.

HOLMES: One last thing here and not at all to suggest that your son -- I know some would suggest and debate whether or not he had been drinking that night or even how much he had been drinking. Different reports about toxicology reports and when they were taken.

But and not suggesting that alcohol had anything to do with it. But do you all at this point believe your -- your son did anything wrong that night?

(CROSSTALK)

DANROY HENRY SR., CLAIMS SON WAS WRONGFULLY KILLED BY COPS: No.

A. HENRY: Not that I know --

D. HENRY: And in fact, the autopsy actually contradicts even those reports about -- about DHC, I mean, I'm not a forensic scientist. But one really important point that you should -- you should know and I maybe back to your earlier point.

Look, his stomach had a trace amount of alcohol in it. If -- if he were, in fact, drunk to the degree that some are suggesting he would have been, he would have had to have ten drinks in the time between the time my wife and I left him and the time that he was killed.

His stomach suggests based on the content of his stomach he had nothing in the hour and a half before he was killed. He only had a trace amount of alcohol. If he would have been that impaired he would have had to have ten drinks. Where is it in his digestive system? How did it get in his body if it's not in his digestive system?

Was there -- conforms to what people said they saw him do. Early in the evening he had a -- a portion of a drink he didn't drink after that.

HOLMES: Last couple of things here. Would -- would you accept anything less than a murder charge against this officer?

A. HENRY: No.

HOLMES: It has to be that? Nothing less? No manslaughter? No, it has to be a murder charge?

A. HENRY: Our son was murdered for doing the right thing. He was asked to move his car from one police department and a different officer from another police department killed him.

HOLMES: All right and the -- you all are seeking a judgment against -- against the officer and the police department, is that right?

D. HENRY: Well, we filed a notice of claim. Those are legal requirements. We have -- we have now to wait 90 days to file an actual lawsuit.

HOLMES: All right, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, I'm going to get some information out as well. I know you all have a fund that's set up in your son's honor. We want to get that -- that information now as well. Thank you both for being here. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances.

(CROSS TALK)

D. HENRY: Thank you.

A. HENRY: Thank you.

HOLMES: -- that we were brought together today. But -- but good talking to you and it sounds like your boy was a -- was a great kid. Maybe we'll get to the bottom of what did happen that night.

A. HENRY: Thank you very much.

D. HENRY: Thank you.

HOLMES: About a quarter at the top of the hour. A quick break; we're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Oh good morning, Wichita. How are things there in Wichita this morning? It's going to 21 as a high later today; that sound bone chilling. It's better than the six degrees you have going right now.

CHETRY: Yes and then you factor in the winds. Then you can see the camera shaking around there. What this feels like temperature, Rob? It seems like across the country the winds are making for subzero feelings outside.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Oklahoma, Kansas feels like a wind chill right now anywhere from minus 10 to minus 20, maybe minus 25. How is that?

CHETRY: Very pleasant.

MARCIANO: It's just kind get you -- well, I'd like to say it gets you in the mood for the holidays but we've already done that.

It gets you in the mood for football season -- that's already -- Valentine's Day? All right, there you go. Next week.

Snuggle up, kids. It's six degrees right now in Kansas City and 3 degrees in Chicago; 18, the temperature dropping in -- in Dallas and that's going to be the trend. So it's just nasty, nasty day out there.

So where it's not cold, it certainly is cold enough for snow in places like Tulsa where it's snowing heavily. Northern parts of Texas, seeing some snow and -- and also southern parts of Texas. Some heavy snow across parts of Arkansas; 24 in Memphis; temperatures in the mid-20s across Dallas, dropping into the teens. Freezing rain, sleet and snow across parts of Dallas and this is all moving its way towards the east quite rapidly. And if anything, that's the good news that it's moving fairly rapidly; 27 for the high in Dallas and it'll be seven for the high temperature in Minneapolis.

Let's talk about where the storm is going. It's dropping quickly to the south. We will see snow in Little Rock. We'll see a couple of inches in Memphis. But Little Rock I mean, it could see four, five, six, maybe eight inches in some spots. The snow getting in across northern Alabama and northern Georgia, maybe an inch overnight and quick inch of snow across parts of Atlanta, it shouldn't be as bad as the last go-around.

Meanwhile where it's not snow, it's definitely cold in Minnesota, Mother Nature dropping the hammer, banana style. Check out this scientific experiment. That's right. That's a rotten banana; Holly Sherrod and Angie Steinbach in Montevideo, Minnesota. That's how they roll with the rotten banana.

Temperatures is about minus 20 at the time and left that rotten piece of fruit out there for about an hour and good enough to do some damage on a hammer, on a -- on a nail and a piece of wood.

So there you go, whenever you can't find a hammer. You know a lot of times I forget to -- I don't put the tools back in the tool box. If you forget the hammer and don't know where it exactly is, put the banana out there and let it freeze out for just a little bit.

CHETRY: Just an hour, just an hour and you got yourself a new tool.

MARCIANO: Ok, Mother Nature giving us all sorts of useful ways to get by this winter season.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

HOLMES: All right, thanks Rob.

We go from bananas to eggs. Apparently, eggs are healthier for you these days. And they --

MARCIANO: Kelly, what do you not work in live television? You were like raising your --

HOLMES: Wait, wait. Oh, wow. Can we get Rob's mike off? What are they -- what are they talking about?

A quick break, we're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": A year ago this week, Michelle Obama announced her plan to fight childhood obesity called "Let's Move." And I think America has been pretty clear in announcing their answer. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. Jimmy Fallon there for us. You know that sometimes people say take a walk down memory lane. Now they're saying actually taking a walk can improve your memory. This is a study of older adults here. The ones that go for a walk three times a week have better memories than those who do not go on a walk.

The aerobics triggers, what is that? It's a part of the brain that deals with memory. Increases the size of the part of the brain by nearly 2 percent and most older adults find that this part of their brain actually shrinks with age. There you go. Take a walk.

CHETRY: All of our brain cells seem to shrink with age. But you know any time you're getting a blood flow, it's a good thing.

HOLMES: Always a good thing.

CHETRY: Well, eggs have gotten a bad rap at times. Sometimes people concerned about cholesterol levels especially the high cholesterols, are supposed to avoid eggs. Well, there's a new study showing that eggs actually have gotten healthier over the years. The Department of Agricultural reports that eggs have a lot less cholesterol than years ago.

A large egg about 185 milligrams of cholesterol now and that's down from 215 milligrams back in the day. The drop may be from a change in the hen' diet and the way they're bred. The study also found that eggs now have higher levels of vitamin d as well.

HOLMES: All right. I'm going to take me a walk now and get me some eggs. It's 4 minutes to the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That was the picture of the day. How about that? The polar bears look like they are swimming next to the kid. No. There was a 10-inch Plexiglas separating them. It was just an optical illusion. But I love that. Kids, you want to swim with the polar bears?

HOLMES: If you want to trust that Plexiglas, that is fine. But a lot of parents probably feel pretty nervous about something that.

But, in the meantime, we appreciate you hanging out with us on here on this AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for being here. I hope to see you tomorrow morning.

CHETRY: Yes, that's right. Meantime, the news continues; CNN newsroom with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Good morning Kyra.