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New Day

Esiason Fights For Son Battling Cystic Fibrosis; A Terrorist's Son Shares His Story; Respiratory Illness Continues to Spread

Aired September 09, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the music tells me it's time for the five things you need to know for your new day.

At number one, President Obama is meeting with House and Senate leaders today, sharing his strategy for taking out ISIS. He will address the nation tomorrow.

Home Depot confirming a huge credit card data breach. More than 60 million people may have been affected, far bigger than Target's massive hack attack last year.

The FBI says it may have identified this man, the man who killed James Foley. Officials tell CNN the man seen beheading Foley is believed to be a British national who joined ISIS.

The preliminary report is out on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Dutch investigators say the plane broke apart over Ukraine after, quote, "high energy objects" hit it from the outside. They also say there is no evidence that anyone manipulated the flight data recorders.

Croatia's Marin Cilic is celebrating his first Grand Slam tennis title. He defeated Japan's Kei Nishikora in straight sets, winning the U.S. Open men's championship. Congratulations to him.

We do update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mic, thank you very much.

In this week's "Impact Your World," radio host and football analyst Boomer Esiason is tackling his biggest challenge ever, and that is fighting for his son's life. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): When you look at Gunnar Esiason, he seems like a typical 20-something. But the son of former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason has cystic fibrosis, a life threatening lung and digestive disease.

GUNNAR ESIASON: I've really just given myself no other option but to live a normal life.

CUOMO: That includes twice daily treatments in a mechanical vest to clear his airway and medication before eating anything.

G. ESIASON: I have to do these therapies, I have to take my medication every day if I want to survive.

BOOMER ESIASON, FORMER NFL QUARTERBACK: Kiss. Big family hug.

CUOMO: Gunnar was diagnosed at two.

B. ESIASON: When you get that news, you immediately think the worst.

CUOMO: Boomer had just been traded to the New York Jets. He almost retired but realized football gave him a national platform.

B. ESIASON: Figuring that I am in the biggest media capital of the world and how I could use that platform to leverage who I am to raise money and awareness for the disease.

CUOMO: That year the Super Bowl quarterback and his wife launched the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

B. ESIASON: We raised money for drug development, transplant grants, scholarship grants, we support hospital development.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go Boomer.

CUOMO: Over two decades, Boomer says the foundation has raised more than $100 million.

B. ESIASON: It's not easy. It's painstaking. It's time consuming. But as you can see sitting next to me, I have a passion for it and this is the best way I know how to have an impact on that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, great to see them together.

CUOMO: Good for Boomer. And see how big Gunnar is now.

BOLDUAN: I was going to say.

CUOMO: He's amazing.

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

All right, getting back to the news this morning. The fight against ISIS is highlighting the threat of home grown terror in the U.S. We speak with one man who turned away from terrorism and he's written a book about growing up as a terrorist's son.

CUOMO: And please listen up, a frightening virus is putting children across the country in the hospital on ventilators in some cases. It's real and it's scary. We have a doctor whose area has been hit especially hard and she's saying the outbreak is just getting started. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Here in America there's growing -- an increasing concern about homegrown terror. What would it be like to grow up with a terrorist in your own family? Zak Ebrahim knows all too well. He was just seven years old when his father, El-Sayyid Nosair, shot and killed a prominent rabbi. His father also helped plan the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Imagine this, Ebrahim grew up in that home. He struggled to carve out his own identity for himself, away from the extremism his father had adopted. But he ultimately embraced a message of non-violence instead. He's here with me now, Zak Ebrahim, author of the book "The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice."

First of all, such a brave thing to do. This was not easy. You have lived a very difficult life. The story is heartbreaking. You were in poverty. You dealt with extremism in your home. You dealt with violence in your home. You chose peace. Why did you write this book?

ZAK EBRAHIM, AUTHOR, "THE TERRORIST'S SON: A STORY OF CHOICE": Well, thank you very much first of all.

You know, one of the main reasons that I wanted to write it was I wanted to show people what it was like to grow up in that ideology, to be a child indoctrinated into, you know, this level of extremism. But I also wanted to show people that although I have been subjected to this fanatical ideology, that I didn't become fanaticized. And so what does that say about the vast majority of Muslim people around the world who aren't exposed to that level of extremism.

PEREIRA: There's millions of Muslims around the world.

EBRAHIM: Yes.

PEREIRA: And the percentage that have become radicalized is small.

EBRAHIM: Very small. And the vast majority of people are never even exposed to that level of fanaticism. So I hope to show people that although I grew up in it and chose a more accepting path or a more tolerant path, that the vast majority of Muslims shouldn't be stereotyped in the way that they often are.

PEREIRA: I want to point people to your book and to the TED Talks to delve into that. But I do want to touch on, what was the exposure in your home like? He was your father and you talk very openly and movingly about how he was your father. You were a young boy and saw him as your dad who played with you and threw a ball around with you, but then, as you grew older, you saw this extremism.

EBRAHIM: Um-hum. Yes, you know, we did very normal things growing up, going to the park and, you know, playing baseball or soccer or the amusement park. It wasn't until shortly before he went to prison that I started to see a change in him. And even though I was such a young kid, it was still very noticeable. And, you know, he used to try and explain lessons to me like, you know, all Jewish people are evil, or that any non-Muslim was a bad influence. And so I grew up thinking that anyone outside of this small bubble that I lived in was a potential danger.

PEREIRA: When did that change for you?

EBRAHIM: I was about 18 or 19 years old actually.

PEREIRA: Interesting. Interesting.

EBRAHIM: And I started working at Busch Gardens in Florida. And I went from being this very isolated kid who was bullied very badly in school and dealt with domestic violence at home to buying a car for the first time.

PEREIRA: Some independence.

EBRAHIM: And - yes.

PEREIRA: And an independence of thought, too.

EBRAHIM: Yes, absolutely. And I started working at Busch Gardens was exposed to so many people from so many different backgrounds, religious backgrounds, you know, cultural backgrounds and I just - I didn't want -- because I had been bullied very badly, I had a great sense of empathy in me and I couldn't treat people who were nice to me regardless of their race, religion or sexual orientation in any other way than how I wanted to be treated. And I made a conscious effort from that point on to try and, you know, shed a lot of those lessons that I've been taught.

PEREIRA: So interesting, we've been talking a lot lately about how a person can become radicalized. It's as though you became unradicalized. And that's really powerful. You made a choice. Even though you're steeped into hatred and violence, you chose peace instead. And that's really, really powerful.

I want your reaction. We are seeing horrific images of what is happening and we know the news has been following the story of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the horrible actions of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. What does that bring up in you?

EBRAHIM: You know, it makes me very sad, first of all. You know it's obviously a huge loss to their families. And, you know, groups like ISIS are very adept at using social media and the Internet to spread their message of propaganda. I think that's one of the main reasons that they're using westerners in their videos to try and gain attention with western audiences, to try to strike fear into their hearts. This isn't anything new. Al Qaeda was the exact same way in the early, mid-90s, they were light years ahead of most groups when it came to using social media to force their agenda.

PEREIRA: Well, I know that you're actually working to see if we can't make empathy and love something that goes viral. This is a tremendously bold and brave thing that you're doing.

EBRAHIM: Thank you. PEREIRA: Very proud of you. And I am proud of you for coming forward

and writing this book. It's called "A Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice." It's an very important read. You can also check out the TED Talks.

EBRAHIM: Yes, TED Talk comes out today. And, you know, frankly, I just feel lucky that I get to take all of these negative experiences and hopefully make something positive about it.

PEREIRA: Thank you, Zak.

EBRAHIM: My pleasure. Thank you.

PEREIRA: A rare respiratory virus is sending children to hospitals around our nation. Doctor in Colorado warns that this outbreak is just the beginning. He says it's going to get worse. We'll have more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: A severe respiratory illness is spreading across the Midwest, sickening hundreds of kids. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): Viruses are nothing new, sure, but this one is bad and its requiring kids to be hospitalized and worse. It is called EVD-68, not that that will matter to you.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): But what should matter is that it's hit at least ten states and its continuing to go. So let's bring in Dr. Tracy Butler. She's the medical director of the children's pediatric intensive care unit at Rocky Mountain Hospital. Its an institution which has been hit very hard by the viral outbreak. Doctor, thank you for joining us. I know you're very busy, we won't keep you long. But tell us, what are you seeing in terms - -

DR. TRACY BUTLER, MEDICAL DIRECTOR CHILDREN'S PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: Thank you.

CUOMO: - - of the trending here?

BUTLER: So, it started about a week ago where we started seeing a number of kids coming in with severe respiratory distress and some of them actually had to go on ventilators and require life support.

CUOMO: As the common parent, I hear about respiratory illness. I say okay, I know about this, I know about viral illnesses. Why is this one something for me to pay attention to?

BUTLER: It's the, how quickly it goes from being just a cold and just normal symptoms to being severe shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.

CUOMO: So it is the same, just worse in terms of its intensity and magnitude. And what does that mean in terms of treating it, duration, possibility of what it manifests itself as later, what do you know?

BUTLER: So some of the kids are getting well as quickly as they get ill, some of them are taking a little bit longer, but they are all recovering, which is the good side of it.

CUOMO: So they are all recovering, that's the headline, that's good news because we don't want to spread false panic here. When I see the kids on the ventilator, that's very frightening to see for anyone, let alone a parent. What's going on with that?

BUTLER: If they get to the point where they just can't breathe and they can't get the air in, we do have to take over their breathing and put them on a ventilator to help them out until the inflammation in their airways improves and they can start breathing adequately on their own.

CUOMO: The obvious concern is that this used to be a rare thing. Now we're seeing it more. Why?

BUTLER: I think this virus is particularly more virulent and just causing a lot more inflammation quicker and getting the kids sick just a lot quicker.

CUOMO: What does that tell us about the actual virus? Does that mean that it's mutating, does that mean that it's spreading more than usual? Do you read anything into that?

BUTLER: I don't know that it's mutating. I think I would defer that to the CDC. I do think it's very contagious and it's spreading very quickly.

CUOMO: Now, the spreading very quickly. The CDC is involved obviously, that's not the usual. Do you think that no matter where someone is in the country they should anticipate that this could reach them?

BUTLER: I do. I do think it seems like it's spreading kind of east to west.

CUOMO: And what do we look for and what do we do?

BUTLER: You know, it's going to be tough this time of year because there's going to be a lot of colds going around and so the kids are going to have the typical symptoms, the cough, the runny nose, the congestion. It's when they start saying that they can't breathe, they need to get 911 involved and get those kids to the hospital as soon as possible.

CUOMO: You doctors always tell parents, you know, kids are going to show you where they're going to go. You know, they're very open about their symptoms, so pay attention and if it seems that they're having more trouble with breathing than just the typical head cold symptoms, what do you do? Get to the doctor right away?

BUTLER: Get to the doctor and if they have a history of asthma, get them on their controller meds, their inhaled steroids. That will help keep the inflammation down and hopefully they wont get it as severly. CUOMO: Obviously you're a very busy doctor, so for you to want to talk

about this publicly obviously you have concerns about what it's doing there in Colorado and could do in other places. We'll check back in with you next week or the end of this week - -

BUTLER: Thank you.

CUOMO: - - to see what you're seeing, if the patterns are changing, if you learn anything about treating it. Thank you very much, Dr. Butler, appreciate your time

BUTLER: Okay, thank you.

CUOMO: Alright, we worry, right? We're parents and now it seems like we certainly have something to worry about, so take that information and use it as you will.

So a man who only looks homeless, listen to this, he is about to give you a lesson in judging a book by its cover that you're not going to forget. It's the Good Stuff. There's a real lesson in it. Its coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: I like this song, I feel badly speaking over him. How I must, though - -

PEREIRA: But I will.

CUOMO: with the Good Stuff. Today's edition is giving to those who us (inaudible)

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): YouTube prankster, usually makes people uncomfortable, this guy. But he's decided to make a difference this time. He dressed up as a homeless person, begged for change. He got brushed off, moved along, all the typical, terrible things we do to the homeless. Even got told to get a job more than once, which is just sweet.

But those who did give got their donation back plus $20.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all I got, partner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got something for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Don't you need this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, its for you. Thank you so much for giving, I'd actually like to give you your dollar back, plus $20.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you deserve it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you do.

(END OF VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): No, I don't. That is probably the truest reaction from someone who gives for the right reason. They don't give to get.

PEREIRA: Someone told me once, and I try to live by this, that when you open your hand to give, you've left it open to receive. And its such a beautiful thing because sometimes you're receiving - -

BOLDUAN: That's so unexpected what he did, too.

PEREIRA: Isn't it?

BOLDUAN: Yes, very cool.

CUOMO: And that experience that he had. It is a little reminder, what you take away from this. You know, its nice what he did here and its nice for those who give, but think about how often people walk down the street, they see homeless people, and they look away. You don't even want to make eye contact.

BOLDUAN: We've all done it.

CUOMO: And that's a sad part of the reality, too. But a little bit of the Good Stuff for you there. Those who gave got back.

A lot of news this morning, you got to see this young lady on the show once already. Now, she has her own show. Ms. Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO: Thanks so much. Have a great day, I appreciate it. NEWSROOM starts now.