with a supersized pregame show. kickoff at 3:30. >> was that a cheerleading outfit? >> very festive. >> brian williams is next. on our broadcast here tonight, the urgent warning late today from the cdc about this growing measles outbreak that started with visitors to disneyland. now comes word that up to 1,000 people may have been exposed in arizona just as thousands more arrive there for the super bowl. the deadly explosion that tore through a children's hospital and maternity ward in mexico where tonight the search for survivors goes on. alcohol and stroke in a major new study out tonight on the effects of having a couple drinks a day and how it's different for men and women. and trapped inside his own body for nearly a decade. the incredible story of a young man who was able to see and hear everything happening around him all the while but no one knew it. he's now sharing his story with the world. "nightly news" begins now.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. it was thought to have been eradicated in the united states, but now measles is making a comeback. and just tonight the centers for disease control issued a wakeup call to all of us. public health officials are treating the return of measles. this outbreak very seriously. it has now spread to over a dozen of our 50 states including the state of arizona where they fear upward of a thousand people may have been exposed. this of course as thousands more are arriving there for the super bowl. this also brings sharp attention to the issue of vaccinating our children. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's hallie jackson in phoenix. hallie, good evening. >> reporter: brian, federal health officials say it's not that the measles vaccine isn't working. it's that it's not being used. the cdc described this outbreak as a wake-up call.

and here in phoenix they're listening. at this children's clinic, signs warn a runny nose, cough and fever could be more than a cold. it could be measles. a real possibility not just here where hundreds may have come into contact with a measles patient, but throughout arizona where seven people with the virus potentially exposed about 1,000 others. what state health officials call a critical point in this outbreak. >> we're making a big deal out of this because we need to contain it now before it gets really widespread. >> reporter: most of the people exposed to measles have probably been vaccinated, but if they haven't been they're being asked to stay home for three weeks, away from work school or day care to make sure they don't infect anyone else. it's how experts hope to stop the spread of measles, which is now in 14 states. most of those cases linked to disneyland in california where one school sent 66 unvaccinated kids home this week just to be safe. carl crowley hopes his son's school will do the same.

6-year-old brett cannot get the shot because of chemotherapy to treat his leukemia. >> the fear of it brought me back to the same fear i had when the doctors told me i might lose my child to cancer. >> reporter: that's why he wants his son's school to ban any student whose parents choose not to immunize them. >> when they don't have their children vaccinated, it doesn't just affect their child. it affects many other children. >> reporter: it's why some doctors call it a social obligation, getting the shot to give others a better shot at staying healthy. of course the other big story in this city is the super bowl. county health officials say they're not concerned about measles spreading to all those crowds coming in from all across the country because the number of people who are actually infected with the virus in arizona is relatively tiny. they say visitors have a better chance of catching the flu than measles. brian. >> hallie, thanks. to the south tonight, rescue crews are on the scene of a massive gas explosion at a children's hospital and maternity ward in mexico city.

the blast captured on amateur video earlier. at least two people are dead, more than 50 injured as a desperate search goes on for possible survivors in the rubble. we get a late report tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: the blast tore through the children's hospital just after dawn. collapsing much of the building and sending smoke into the sky over mexico city. police rushed in as stunned, injured mothers carry infants fled the maternity ward. in the chaos this woman frantically tried to find her sister. about a hundred people were in the hospital, many of them children. the two dead, a woman and a child. dozens more were injured, many by broken glass and debris. everything is destroyed, this man said but we were able to rescue babies. many places in mexico city have no main gas supply and rely on delivery. this tanker was piping gas to

the hospital's kitchen when the hose began to leak. workers desperately tried to fix it before time ran out. mexico's president urged volunteers to donate blood. pope francis called for prayers. mexico city's mayor says tonight about a thousand rescue workers are searching for survivors that may still be trapped in the debris. a children's hospital, once a place where life began, now the scene of devastation. gabe gutierrez, nbc news. back in this country a lot of people are keeping an eye on another storm system taking shape leaving people in new england feeling vulnerable. very little time to catch their breath after they were buried under a blizzard of historic proportions. days after it first hit they're still struggling to clear roadways and homes living under the threat of more snow now. miguel almaguer joins us tonight from the dorchester section of boston. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the snow has stopped falling

here, but that doesn't mean it's gone away. in fact, that's the problem. we found this pile 25 feet high just outside of boston. and it's all across the new england area. tonight, more snow is on the way to big cities and small communities throughout this region. tonight, from maine to massachusetts the big dig. this scramble before the next approaching storm. >> it's part of winter. >> reporter: it's plowing through the midwest, causing spinouts and two planes to slide off the runway in michigan. it's pushing east where mounds of snow have swallowed cars. this is what many neighborhoods look like with tight streets and piles of snow may not change any time soon. today in boston a fatal fire on these narrow, slick and often unplowed roads, firefighters struggle to find buried hydrants. >> could be the difference between life and death. >> reporter: along the coast in

marshfield a frozen tundra an inch thick for blocks. >> the upstairs i think is okay, but the downstairs is clear through. everything's gone. >> reporter: the damage from a broken seawall not just coating the outside of homes. >> this is everybody's worst nightmare that lives here. all these people are not going to be able to live here for a long time. >> reporter: with waves battering nantucket, many on the island are still without power. others can't even get out of their home. >> looks like a disaster zone. i've never seen it that bad. >> reporter: tonight they're digging out where they can. a race to stay ahead of what's already on the way. while the next storm isn't expected to be as crippling, more snow will only compound the problem. work crews are working around the clock to do what they can. but, brian, there's only so much they can do. >> miguel almaguer from dorchester tonight. miguel, thanks. as we mentioned, all eyes are on the skies in new england as

these winter storm warnings are up already especially in the state of maine. meteorologist dylan dreyer has made her way to sanford, maine. hey, dylan, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we still have about 30 inches of snow on the ground here and that's after a little bit of melting today, but we've got more snow moving in tonight. it will start off light but pick up in intensity by friday afternoon turning into a weaker nor'easter for down east maine especially as we go into friday night and saturday. that's where we could end up with about a foot or more of snow. even boston could see an additional 6 to 9 inches. and then look at how cold it's going to be saturday morning. all across new england single digits and temperatures below zero. windchills about 15 to 30 below. and then we are watching yet another storm moving through the ohio river valley sunday night and then bringing snow possibly to the mid-atlantic as we go into monday. now, it is still very early in the forecast. a lot will change before then, but it certainly is worth watching as we go through the weekend. brian. >> dylan dreyer in sanford, maine tonight.

dylan dylan, thanks. some tense moments on capitol hill today during a hearing on global security threats. former secretaries of state came to testify including madeleine albright george shultz and henry kissinger. when the 91-year-old kissinger entered the room anti-war protesters called code pink surrounded him and started chanting calling for his arrest until committee chairman john mccain strongly put an end to it. >> arrest henry kissinger for war crimes. >> we'll stand in recess. we don't want the hear from you any more. i've been a member of this committee for many years, and i've never seen anything as disgraceful and outrageous and despicable. you're going to have to shut up or i'm going to have you arrested.

get out of here, you low life scum. >> capitol hill police indeed removed the protesters and the hearing got underway. the deadline has now passed concerning the lives of two hostages, a japanese journalist and a jordanian military pilot. in a message he was forced to record, the journalist said isis would kill the pilot unless jordan turned over a convicted would-be suicide bomber at the syrian/turkish border by sundown, which was hours ago. jordan indicated it would do that but first needed proof that the pilot was still alive. it took more than ten months but investigators have now officially declared the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370 an accident and the 239 souls onboard are now officially presumed dead. while that may be of little comfort to their loved ones, it will allow those families to at least move forward with compensation claims. in all these months time not a seat cushion or a styrofoam cup, not a shred of debris from the aircraft has been spotted or

found. in health news tonight, some alarming news that could make even those who regard themselves as casual drinkers think twice. it's a new study linking drinking to an increased risk of stroke. our report tonight from our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: the results of the study in the journal "stroke" are sobering. for heavy drinkers that's more than one drink per day for women and more than two for men. a 34% higher risk for stroke than for light drinkers. >> i think it's pretty surprising in general. i think we're going to have to really re-evaluate our attitudes towards drinking. >> reporter: this study of nearly 12,000 twins in sweden over four decades found that heavy drinking in your 50s and 60s raises the risk of stroke before the age of 75. it's as risky as having diabetes or high blood pressure. and heavy drinkers in their 50s and 60s are likely to have strokes five years earlier in life regardless of genetics.

we think of strokes as happening in an elderly population. this study is saying, no, it can happen in younger people if alcohol is involved. >> absolutely. actually, unfortunately, we are seeing younger and younger people having strokes. >> reporter: in moderation use of alcohol does not increase the risk for stroke and may even prevent it. the american heart association defines one drink as four ounces of wine, one beer or 1.5 ounces of spirits. but too much of a good thing increases your risk for stroke. we all talk about how alcohol in moderation can be good for us, but that really means knowing what a serving looks like. and most of us when we pour a glass of wine or something else, we don't measure. we just pour, brian. >> all right. dr. nancy snyderman, interesting news on this today. thanks as always. >> you bet. still ahead for us tonight, what it was like for a young man who couldn't communicate, talk or control his muscles. living a life trapped inside his

own body, but he could hear and see and understand everything around him for years. also, the picture worth a thousand words and a million dollars. one wish that has gone spectacularly viral. people getting involved all around the world.

back now with an nbc news exclusive. tonight, the first american tv interview with a man who lived essentially trapped inside his own body for about a decade of his life.

he could see and hear everything talk and he couldn't control his body movements. doctors told his parents he couldn't understand the world going on around him, but that all changed one day when someone finally realized he was in there, then started the effort to unlock the man inside. we get his story tonight from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: to look at martin pistorius now, you'd never know what he's been through. he was a healthy 12-year-old growing up in south africa when he went home sick from school one day. >> he never got better. >> reporter: his body weakened, lost control of his muscles. stopped communicating. doctors believed it was a neurodegenerative disease and told his parents he was unaware of the world around him, but that was wrong. for nearly a decade he says he was awake but no one noticed. >> for some many years i was like a ghost. it was like i wasn't there. i was invisible. >> reporter: this is martin today. this is how you communicate now? >> yes.

>> reporter: he speaks by typing into a computer that voices his words. because that takes time we gave him some of our questions in advance. you must have overheard so many conversations. >> yes, many times. you'll get to see and hear things that you probably never would. things like what people really think and how they really are when nobody is watching. >> reporter: like one night when he heard his mom in a moment of despair. >> i said to him one day, i hope you die. and i had no idea that he understood that. and i'm very, very sorry i said it. >> i was very sad by what she said. i understood where that was coming from. my mother often felt that she wasn't a good mom, and one of the hardest things for me was i couldn't tell her that, no, you are doing great. she is a good mother. >> reporter: martin lived at home with his parents but was regularly in care centers where he said at times he was

subjected to abuse, verbal, physical and sexual. >> there was never a care home that i was in where there wasn't some degree of abuse. even if it didn't happen to me, i witnessed it happening to others. >> reporter: but he says most of his caregivers were good people like the therapist who noticed a glimmer in martin's eye ten years into his illness. tests revealed he could communicate. >> i remember feeling happy, like wow, but also thinking to myself, what next. >> reporter: as your mind grew stronger, did your body also get stronger? >> yes. my body slowly got stronger, too. it took a massive amount of work blood, sweat and tears, literally, over many years. >> reporter: he went to college, even learned to drive using an adapted car. and in 2008 he met a friend of his sister's, jonah. >> i just thought he was really attractive. >> reporter: they got married five years ago. martin, it sounds almost like a love at first sight kind of story. >> yes, i think it was.

it is hard to explain but you just know. i have heard people say that they always thought, yeah, right, until it happened to me. >> reporter: his message now, don't overlook what's possible. >> treat everyone with kindness, dignity, compassion and respect whether or not you think they understand or not. to never underestimate the power of the mind, the importance of love and faith and to never stop dreaming. >> martin is a man who appreciates every joy in life. his book, "ghost boy" is now on the "new york times" best seller list, brian. >> what an incredible story. what a message there at the end about how to treat other people. we wanted to let you know kate has written her account about what it was like to meet and interview martin pistorius, no relation by the way to the other pistorius in the news of late. we have that account posted on our website tonight. we'll take a break here. and when we come back the new findings just out tonight about the safest cars on our roads.

she wrote the book that was referred to as the australian "gone with the wind." colleen mccullough has died. she was a medical researcher at yale who decided years ago to write in her spare time. her novel "the thorn birds" became a colossus. 30 million copies in print and still selling. it became a groundbreaking ten-part mini series watched by millions of people which the author famously hated. colleen mccullough was 77. we put this full report on our website tonight, but there is good news in terms of auto safety. your chance of dying in a crash has just fallen by a third over just the last three years. the stats apply to late-model cars and light trucks. there's still a gap in safety between smaller and cheaper cars and more expensive larger models, but eight separate brand names studied registered zero deaths per million registered vehicles. amid all the hype in the

run-up to the super bowl, one event has grown in popularity and it took place last night on a high school field in arizona. wounded warriors for the wars in iraq and afghanistan facing off against some of the all-time greats from the nfl. we spotted rams hall of famer, former wild man jack youngblood team captain jake plummer and, for good measure, snoop dogg. they squared off with veterans with wounds both visible, like the loss of limbs, and invisible, like traumaic brain injuries. the wounded warriors amputee team won 58-21. when we come back, one photo worth a million dollars thanks to people making a difference.

it's one thing to tell kids they can accomplish anything, but it's quite another to prove it. tonight's "making a difference" report begins with a chance encounter on the streets of new york between a photographer and a young man and what was said and done in those few moems may have changed the future for an entire graduating class of young people. their story tonight from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: a simple photo and a caption. a 13-year-old middle schooler talks about how he's inspired by

his principal, nadia lopez, saying one time she made every student stand up one at a time and she told each one of us that we matter. this one photo of vidal went viral with more than a million likes when it was posted on a popular website called humans of new york. the students at mott hall bridges academy agree. their principal is something special. what do you think about ms. lopez? >> she's a good principal. >> she's a beautiful principal. and she helps and she cares for others. >> the best principal ever. like, it makes me want to cry. >> reporter: the school and photographer set up a fund-raising site with a plan to give the students a chance to dream beyond their troubled neighborhoods and a trip to harvard university. donations are pouring in. now more than a million dollars, enough to fund that harvard trip and a scholarship for graduates for years to come. the first recipient, vidal,

rehema ellis, nbc news, brooklyn. that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. we of course hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. nbc bay area news starts now. >> and good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. we begin tonight with ebola. it's back in our local headlines about 80 miles to our east, a possible new case. the emergency room at sacramento's mercy hospital was sealed shut after a person showed up with symptoms consistent with the deadly virus. the patient didn't stay long though. doctors moved that person to nearby uc davis medical center. that's where nbc bay area's jodi hernandez joins us. jodi, what is the protocol now, and what do we know? >> reporter: raj, when somebody

shows signs and symptoms of ebola, the protocol is to transfer that person to a specially designated ebola treatment center. now uc davis medical center here is one of four such centers in northern california. the patient has been transferred here. now tonight that patient is in isolation here at the hospital. the hospital says that nobody is in danger. still, there are a lot of folks that are feeling nervous. >> sure i'm nervous. i'm really nervous, really nervous. >> reporter: that's how patients at uc davis medical center in sacramento are feeling tonight as they learn a patient displaying symptoms consistent with ebola is being treated and tested at the hospital. >> it's in the same building. it's in the same building. anything can happen. >> reporter: the patient was transferred to the uc medical center from mercy general hospital this morning. a team of highly trained nurses jumped into action. >> there are volunteer