i can feel no rain on me ♪ tonight, pete's promise. >> i hope i can use my youth and my networks that i'm part of to promote some awareness. >> a fierce fighter and game changer. who sparked the ice bucket challenge. inspiring millions to raise money and hope for those battling a.l.s. >> we're going to find a cure for this. we're not going to give up. >> now the life and legacy of a fallen warrior. >> pete set the tone. when he got diagnosed, we're not going to feel sorry for me, we're going to change the world. >> on a mission to strike out a devastating disease. how it united the world and helped jumpstart medical breakthroughs. >> what comes to mind when you think were continue for the ice bucket i wouldn't be on this job? >> a special edition of

"nightline," "pete's promise." we'll be right back.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we need is somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ sweden's greetings. enjoy your first payment on us when you lease a new volvo. now through january 2nd. ♪ good evening. thanks for joining us. today we lost a warrior and a friend. pete frates turned his dreaded diagnosis of a.l.s. into a rallying cry that inspired millions, maybe even you, to

dump a bucket of ice over your head. we first met pete three years ago and began following his family's fight against this cruel disease. this is a love story, one that reminds us all how one person can move so many. >> going back is frates. >> passionate. genuine. hard-working. before a.l.s. and after a.l.s. those words are what describes pete. >> it's not very often you come across somebody who actually changed the world. >> frates is swinging the bat today with an awful lot of confidence. >> reporter: few people can say they changed the world. pete frates was one of those people. >> for a young guy like myself to be diagnosed, hopefully i can use my youth and the networks i'm part of to promote some awareness. >> this is all to raise awareness for a.l.s. and pete frates. >> reporter: a father, a husband, a game changer in the world of a.l.s. whose courageous battle inspired a movement.

helping launch a tidal wave of ice buckets. raising $200 million for a seemingly unstoppable disease. >> when this disease is stopped, which it's going to happen, this will go back to pete and the ice bucket challenge for being the beginning of the end of this disease. >> reporter: today, after a seven-year battle with a.l.s. that defied doctors' expectations, pete frates left this world. he was just 34. online, a flood of tributes. red sox star big papi posting "heart hurts a lot today but your name and legacy will live on forever. rest easy, my friend." the outpouring painting a portrait of a life that changed so many. pete was born in suburban massachusetts. a boston boy through and through. >> i have a kid that i knew was chosen to do something great. i've known it since he was a boy. >> reporter: his was an idyllic childhood. that's pete on hisirst two-wheeler. and hitting pop flies off dad.

♪ how old are you peter home videos capturing hints of the charismatic star college athlete he was destined to become. in high school pete was a three-sport all-star. captain of the football and hockey teams. >> pete was an exceptional athlete. he was special that way. and i think that's what -- he made other people better around him. >> reporter: but it was baseball that would become his life's passion. >> going back is frates. >> reporter: he snagged a scholarship to play center field for boston college. yep, division 1. >> frates is the leading base stealer -- >> he was a vocal leader on the team. he'd be the guy late night sitting at your bed playing ac/dc metallica every night. that was pete. >> reporter: always wearing his lucky number 3. but it wasn't just that athletic prowess. his personality was larger than life too. >> he's certainly someone that puts out this like infectious energy. >> he was friends with everybody. >> he's just this bigger than life guy that has a following.

>> reporter: beloved by hundreds of friends all of whom would say they're thinks favorite. >> when i first started dating him he'd be like i would like you to meet my best friend so and so. and finally i was like how many best friends do you have? because i've met 14 best friends so far. >> reporter: his many besties will tell you the strapping hometown hero was a hit on and off the baseball diamond. >> the addendum that my wife makes topher story is he was the best-looking guy that ever walked on the boston college campus. and when i remind her that i too went to boston college, it makes for a couple awkward moments. >> reporter: his final year at b.c. pete was named captain of the baseball team. during a grudge match against rival harvard he hit a monster home run in fenway park. >> who hits a home run at fenway park? you know? it's kind of like every kid's dream. >> reporter: after a short stint playing pro ball overseas pete settled back in boston to start a 9 to 5 job selling insurance. when he met the love of his

life, julie kowalyk. what made you fall in love with pete? >> well, he was very handsome. that didn't hurt. but from the beginning pete was constantly taking care of me. and you know, catering to my needs. as a girl it's very flattering. and that's just the kind of guy he is. >> reporter: pete and julie had just fallen in love. dreams of marriage and children in their future. but within months pete started feeling odd, having trouble with simple tasks like buttoning his shirt. after a series of tests doctors asked him to come in and bring his parents. >> the doctor walked in, and he went like this with his hand. he said, "this is not the common cold. this is not lyme disease. it's not parkinson's. it's not m.s. i hate to tell you, pete. mr. and mrs. frates. you have a.l.s." >> reporter: it was a death sentence. a.l.s. amyo trophic lateral sclerosis. more commonly known as lou

gehrig's disease. the rare neurological disease affecting 30,000 mostly older americans robbing patients of their movements, their voice, and eventually their ability to breathe. all while the mind stays alert. >> nancy ran screaming out of that office. she knew exactly the magnitude of this thing. devastated. i didn't know if i should run after her or stay with pete. >> all of a sudden i was, you know, faced with the person i wanted to spend my whole life with being, you know, given a timeline. >> reporter: a.l.s. currently has no known cause or cure. most patients live only three to five years on average. but almost immediately rather than wallowing the brawny baseball star started looking at the diagnosis as a dare. >> pete says to the doctor, how much money do you need to cure this thing? she puts her hand on his knee and says, "pete" -- >> i just said a billion. i don't have any knowledge that a billion's enough but i think a

billion would make a big impact. >> reporter: a billion-dollar challenge to cure his disease. an astronomical figure for sure. but that didn't deter pete frates. >> sew said to her, he was like, i will get you a billion dollars, and we'll reach bill gates. >> i fell on the ground laughing. that's absurd. we're just a middle-class family. what are you talking about? >> reporter: ever the team captain, pete took the reins of his disease from day one. >> pete set the tone. and when he got diagnosed, we're not going to fool sorry for me, we're going to chait world. >> it wasn't about feeling sorry for himself. it was what can i do to make sure other families don't go what my family's going through. >> reporter: pete became a man on a mission. his loved ones quickly rallying behind him. but he knew it would be a brutal path. >> pete said to you, you know, you're young, you have your whole life in front of you, i'll understand if you leave. >> yeah. and it was a very short conversation because i'm pretty sure i told him to basically shut up.

>> reporter: rather than tear them apart, four months after the diagnosis pete and julie promised to spend the rest of their lives together. >> knowing that you're going to get married. knowing that you're about to say for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, what went through your mind? >> before we got married i was so nervous about the actual ceremony and saying those words, and i thought, you know, i'm going to get so emotional. >> mr. and mrs. peter frates. [ applause ] >> all of a sudden i was like empourpd yee empower empowered. we are doing this in sickness and health and i'm not crying about it because this is the choice i made. >> reporter: pete, by this time in a wheelchair, ever the fighter, standing up to walk his wife down the aisle. >> it's so kind of surreal to think about because he was pretty much always in a wheelchair at that point. >> what does that moment say about pete? >> that he literally could make himself walk if he wants to. >> reporter: it's that same fortitude along with his savvy

social media skills that helped bombard your facebook feed five summers ago. >> he's watching all the videos of his silly friends doing the funniest things and he was laughing hysterically. >> reporter: so he challenged his hundreds of best friends. plugging into a network of athletes with massive social media followings. >> he right away was tagging people. >> tagging people that he knew of influence. >> i accept the ice bucket challenge. >> reporter: almost instantly big name athletes stepped up to the plate. former boston college quarterback matt ryan of the atlanta falcons. julian edelman of the patriots. >> it's like holy smokes, that person did it, this person did it. and the next thing you know your whole news feed is just ice bucket challenges. >> when did it blow your mind? >> i think it must have been bill gates. >> reporter: pete's promise came true. the world's richest man and perhaps most powerful philanthropist shivering for his cause. and that billion-dollar prediction? they were almost a quarter of the way there in just six weeks.

when we come back, pete's legacy. five years after the challenge. you have a brother in the second battalion? yes sir. they're walking into a trap. your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrows attack. if you fail we will lose sixteen hundred men. your brother among them. we need to keep moving. come on. there's only one way this war ends. last man standing. add some shine to her holiday with a sephora favorites perfume sampler and up to 60% off fine jewelry. jcpenney! upbeat music♪ no cover-up spray here. cheaper aerosols can cover up odors in a flowery fog.

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>> reporter: following his journey with the disease his family calls the beast. most a.l.s. patients are given two to five years to live. but pete battled on for more than seven years. prolonging his life, costly round-the-clock care at home with nurses and hospital equipment all around. much of it not covered by insurance. allowing him precious extra innings with his greatest legacy, his daughter lucy, who grew up before our eyes. >> dada. mommy poured water on your head. i was actually there. >> reporter: now 5, lucy loves to visit pete's playground, a place built for her and dedicated to her dad. do you feel like deja vu all over again with lucy? >> she's -- she's so much like him. she's a female version of pete in so many ways. and she looks like him. pete has never said a word to

lucy. he just looks at her and she knows how much he loves her. >> reporter: that love endures for the entire frates family, who fought valiantly by his side right to the end. team frates turning out to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ice bucket challenge in boston just this past summer. >> we can cross the finish line and rid the earth of this disease. >> reporter: over time pete had been slowly robbed of his movements and his voice. but his presence and his perseverance roared across every corner of the a.l.s. world. like pete sarah olsen was only in her 20s when she was diagnosed last year. the average onset of a.l.s. is 55. >> joey, you're getting too fat. you need to diet so your harness fits better. >> reporter: a former bodybuilder and police detective, sarah is on one of just two treatments available for patients, ratacava, which

was fast-tracked and approved thanks to the ice bucket challenge. what comes to mind when you think were it not for the ice bucket challenge i wouldn't be on this drug? >> yeah. that's months of my life that because of pete i have that chance. >> reporter: you think of pete as your hero. >> yeah. >> reporter: why? >> because they've raised together $115 million for a.l.s. before that most people you bring up a.l.s. and they have no idea what it is. that was worldwide. people knew what a.l.s. was. that's a lot of money for research. there's still some money sitting there. >> reporter: what was that like, to come face to face with your hero? >> with what i'm facing? somebody like pete and as well as he's handled it gives me the ability to stay positive. because pete stayed positive. i'm not going to give up either. pete didn't give up. >> reporter: tonight sarah sent us this message for pete. >> pete, rest easy, my friend.

you've won. i hope you're up in heaven hitting home runs. >> reporter: pete's life continuing to inspire the next generation of people battling a.l.s. like oziel mendoza. >> when you think of pete, what inspiration do you draw from him? what legacy do you think pete frates and julie have had? >> they're someone we can look up to. role models. without even knowing them. it's so inspiring that a man with limited abilities similar to me and so many others can make such a big impact. >> reporter: osiel, now 24, was an all-around athlete just like pete, a team captain. he fell in love with his middle school sweet-heart, bella. they dreamed of starting a life together. but in the summer of 2016 he started to notice a twitching and muscle weakness. after a series of tests that

dreaded diagnosis, a.l.s. >> what was that like, getting that news? >> still hard to put into words. my whole entire life flashed by me. >> reporter: but life moved forward. and just like pete, osiel fought to walk his bride down the aisle, arm in arm, shortly after his diagnosis. >> everybody knows the wedding vows, which is in sickness and in health. >> i'm going to mean it because every single day i try to tell you that i'm never going to leave your side. and i'm not going to. i'm in this until the end. >> reporter: these days, two years into their marriage, bella, along with their family members, is now one of his caregivers. a personal stylist. a groomer. a spritzer. >> head over heels. >> reporter: osiel has lost movement in his arms and legs.

with all he's lost he says there's one thing this disease cannot steal. >> what is it that we live for? >> i think love. the relationships that i have with my family and friends. if i can still be myself around them, i think that's what life is all about. >> reporter: for the mendozas it's not about what lies ahead but what they have right here, right now. >> not worrying about what can happen in the future. i think that's the hardest part for anyone with a.l.s. there's always that thing in the back of your mind that's saying in a few years or months or weeks i may not be here anymore. so i think that's why julie and pete say that it's so important to attempt to live in the present and to really try and live by that. >> reporter: osiel now breathes on a tracheal tube. he and bella told us "pete provided us with so much hope. despite his passing, his legacy will remain.

and in his honor we will find a cure." >> if you look at when pete got diagnosed most people didn't know what a.l.s. was. there will be a cure for a.l.s. and it will be directly linked to pete. >> reporter: a life fully lived. pete frates' impact extends well beyond his 34 years. teaching us by example that it's not how many years you have but what you make of them that counts. a final note when we come back. may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. lease the c 300 sedan for just $399 a month at the mercedes-benz winter event.

hurry in today. the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. ♪ what's gotten into him? christmas. jcpenney. remember the little things.

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♪ pete's mother, nancy frates, will tell you that her son sprinkled fairy dust on everything he touched, turning it to gold. after raising nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for a.l.s. and making the disease a household name, it's hard not to believe her. pete's legacy will live on through the life he lived, the family he loved, and the example he left behind. to john, nancy, julie, lucy and the entire frates family, our thoughts and our hearts are with you tonight.

thanks for joining us. good night.

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