whoa! it's pure gold. we're gonna be rich... we're gonna be rich! it only gets better when you switch and save with geico. captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> it was a weapon? >> oh, of course it was a weapon. >> an energy weapon? >> absolutely. >> what sort of energy is this that we're talking about? >> i believe it's r.f., radio frequency energy, in the microwave range. >> mark lenzi is a state department security officer who worked in the u.s. consulate in guangzhou, china. >> there is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that this was a directed attack against my neighbor and i. >> his neighbor was catherine werner. >> it was intense pressure on both of my temples. and i remember looking around for where this sound was coming from, because it was painful.

( ticking ) >> student debt is a crisis. americans owe $1.5 trillion. the burden for medical students is especially heavy. but now one of the country's top schools has come up with a radical solution. >> the n.y.u. school of medicine is now a tuition free medical school-- ( cheers and applause ) >> oh, my god! >> saving these students more than $200,000 each with the hope that: >> one day, if you're dealing with a patient who can't afford to have something done you might say "it's on me." ( ticking ) >> the giant waves appear off nazareé, portugal, every winter, just as they have for thousands of years. few surfers knew about this place, until garrett mcnamara was towed into this 78-foot wave

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25 americans, including c.i.a. agents, who worked in the u.s. embassy in cuba suffered serious brain injuries, causing impaired vision and memory loss, among other persistent problems. now, we have learned that at least 15 american officials in china suffered unexplained brain trauma soon after. as we first reported in march, the f.b.i. is now investigating whether these americans were attacked by a mysterious weapon that leaves no trace. over many months, we have been collecting evidence of what appears to be a hostile foreign government's plan to target americans serving abroad and their families. >> mark lenzi: for me, it was november of 2017, when i started to feel lightheaded a lot. i was getting more headaches. my wife was getting headaches, too. >> pelley: mark lenzi is a state department security officer who worked in the u.s. consulate in guangzhou, china.

he says that he and his wife began to suffer after hearing strange sounds in their apartment. >> lenzi: picture holding a marble. then, picture if you had, like, a six-foot in diameter funnel, metal funnel. the sound that marble would make as it goes around, and it progressively gets faster as it gets, goes down towards the hole at the end. it's a sound like i've never heard before. >> pelley: was this subtle? like, "did i hear that?" >> lenzi: no. it was-- it was actually somewhat loud. i heard it about three or four times, always in the same spot. always over my son's crib, and always right before we would go to bed. >> pelley: lenzi wears prescribed glasses because sensitivity to light is among his persistent symptoms. >> lenzi: the symptoms were progressively getting worse with me. my headaches were getting worse. the most concerning symptom for me was memory loss, especially short-term memory loss. >> pelley: mark lenzi believes he was targeted because of his work. he uses top secret equipment to

analyze electronic threats to diplomatic missions. >> lenzi: there is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that this was a directed attack against my neighbor and i. >> pelley: his neighbor was catherine werner, who lived one floor up. she's a u.s. commerce department trade officer who promoted american business from the guangzhou consulate. >> catherine werner: i woke up in the middle of the night, and i could feel this sound in my head. it was intense pressure on both of my temples. at the same time, i heard this low humming sound, and it was oscillating. and i remember looking around for where this sound was coming from, because it was painful. >> pelley: when did you first notice that you weren't feeling well? >> werner: october of 2017, i started to get hives all over my body. really bad hives. i woke up with headaches every day.

i started to feel tired. the simplest things would just make me very, very tired. >> pelley: were these symptoms growing worse over time? >> werner: they were, yes. my symptoms would get so bad that i would throw up, or i would wake up with nose bleeds. >> pelley: she says even her dogs were throwing up blood. werner assumed her illness was connected to china's toxic smog. she didn't know it at the time, but her symptoms were the same that american officials in havana had suffered since 2016. the u.s. embassy there is all but closed as a result. >> werner: we hadn't heard about what happened in cuba. i mean, there were headlines in the news about hearing loss, and attacks to our diplomats, but we didn't know the details. >> pelley: catherine werner became so ill, her mother traveled from the u.s. to live with her.

>> werner: she spent almost three months with me. during that time, she also got very ill. and she and i shared the same symptoms. >> pelley: what sort of symptoms did your mother have? >> werner: headaches. and ringing in our ears. we also started to both have difficulty recalling words. >> pelley: after reporting her experiences, werner was medically evacuated to the u.s. for treatment. u.s. agencies are investigating, but mark lenzi has a theory. >> lenzi: this was a directed standoff attack against my apartment. >> pelley: it was a weapon? >> lenzi: oh, of course it was a weapon. >> pelley: an energy weapon? >> lenzi: absolutely. >> pelley: what sort of energy is this that we're talking about? >> lenzi: i believe it's r.f., radio frequency energy, in the microwave range. >> pelley: a clue that supports that theory was revealed by the national security agency in

2014. this n.s.a. statement describes such a weapon as a "high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time without leaving evidence." the statement goes on to say, "this weapon is designed to bathe a target's living quarters in microwaves." the n.s.a. disclosed this in a worker's compensation case, filed by former n.s.a. employee mike beck. >> pelley: when you look back across your career, is there any incident that leads you to believe that it could be responsible for your parkinson's disease? >> mike beck: yes. >> pelley: in the 1990s, beck and an n.s.a. coworker were on assignment overseas. years later, he says, they developed parkinson's disease at the same time. >> beck: in 1996, a colleague of mine, chuck gubete, and i traveled to a hostile country

and worked there for about a week. and-- i can't say where the hostile country-- the identity of it. >> pelley: because it's still classified? >> beck: yes. >> pelley: but it was not cuba or china. you believe that you and chuck gubete were attacked with this microwave weapon? >> beck: yes. i had a pretty good working knowledge of the hostile country's intelligence services, what they do to people, what they have done, what their modus operandi is. >> pelley: mike beck says more intelligence has come in recently, which he shared in a classified briefing with congressional investigators. >> pelley: mike, you can't discuss any of these details because they're all classified. but, in your opinion, does the new information that you briefed the house and senate intelligence committee staff on in any way relate to what happened in cuba and china?

>> beck: it's relevant to the cuba and china cases. >> pelley: no one has officially confirmed that what beck says happened to him is related to at least 40 americans injured in china and cuba. while beck suffers from parkinson's, the recent patients are being treated for the same kind of symptoms that doctors would expect from a concussion. >> dr. teena shetty: so follow my fingers. >> pelley: dr. teena shetty is mark lenzi's neurologist. >> shetty: so mark initially came to me reporting symptoms of headache, memory loss, sleep difficulties, emotionality, and irritability. >> pelley: and what did you make of that in the early days? >> shetty: i was very surprised. he did not have any history of any trauma or blow to his head, but he reported a constellation of neurologic symptoms which are characteristic of mild traumatic brain injury, without any history of associated head trauma. >> lenzi: i still notice it, but that has improved. >> pelley: exactly how their

brains were injured is the subject of a study at the university of pennsylvania center for brain injury and repair. >> shetty: still slightly wobbly. >> pelley: dr. shetty is not part of that study... >> shetty: and align your knees for me. >> pelley: ...but her patient, mark lenzi, is. >> shetty: the presumption is that something happened which caused a functional brain injury of wide-spread brain networks, because he has symptoms to reflect a multitude of brain networks. >> pelley: what doctor shetty describes mirrors the findings published so far by the university of pennsylvania study. >> robyn garfield: they have said that our symptoms are exactly what they saw in cuba, and that we have the full suite of findings that they had there. >> pelley: robyn and britta garfield are among the 40 patients enrolled in the university of pennsylvania study. like catherine werner, robyn garfield is a trade officer with the commerce department. he was posted with his wife and two young children in shanghai.

>> robyn garfield: i don't know when the sound started. i do know that it was for months on end. >> britta garfield: i was sitting next to robyn, and something, i felt like, hit me from the left side. and at first it felt like an electric shock, and then it paralyzed me, so i was not able to move or speak. pelley: it hit you so hard you felt like you were in danger in the room? >> britta garfield: yes. >> pelley: they say the children suffered blurred vision and loss of balance. your daughter was literally falling down? >> robyn garfield: yes. she fell down multiple times that day. >> britta garfield: we went on a walk and she just fell on her face. it was very abnormal. she never does that. and then a second time, she completely lost her balance and just fell to the side. >> pelley: in 2018, the secretary of state mike pompeo confirmed the case of catherine werner. u.penn found her brain injuries

matched the cuba victims. >> mike pompeo: we had an incident in guangzhou that the medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to americans working in cuba. >> pelley: but for reasons that are unclear, the state department is raising doubt about the other 14 china cases. the state department's medical office sent mark lenzi this note, that says "we have reached the decision that your symptoms and findings do not correlate with the havana cohort." >> lenzi: they tried to deny it. they tried to cover it up. they tried to minimize it. >> pelley: why would the state department minimize this? >> lenzi: because it's china. because we have such a large trade relationship with them. you can push around cuba. their trade, you know, relations are minimal. with china, that's a different beast, right? >> pelley: state department doctors told robyn garfield his illness stems from a baseball injury 17 years ago-- which does not explain his wife and children.

>> robyn garfield: it is a very complicated geopolitical relationship between the u.s. and china. so that to me feels like why this determination's being made. your benefits today that the for state department is refusing to call this an attack? >> robyn garfield: it has significant impact on our, our life, our finances. my career as well, likely. i have not been afforded time for my rehabilitation. being classified as "preexisting injury" means that i don't have access to paid leave. it also means that after one year, my medical bills will not be covered currently. >> pelley: the china patients have the attention of at least one member of the senate foreign relations committee. jeanne shaheen wrote secretary pompeo, "the group from china is increasingly feeling isolated

and left behind by the state department." the state department declined an interview, but in a statement to "60 minutes," it said, "we will continue to provide our colleagues the care they need, regardless of their diagnosis or the location of their medical evacuation." a state department official told us that the cuba patients are victims of an attack, but state hasn't made the same determination for the china patients. the department has asked the national academies of science to assist in the medical investigation. the f.b.i. is also investigating. intelligence sources told us that in addition to cuba and china, russia is a suspect. but if microwaves were used, the technology is not rare. it could be, more than one country is using it. u.s. intelligence is still debating what caused the injuries. you were in harm's way and you

didn't know it. >> werner: exactly. i didn't know it. and i'm afraid that others may be in harm's way and may not know it. i don't know what the future looks like for me, but i would do anything in my power to prevent this from happening to somebody else serving their country. >> pelley: in july, the medical team from the university of pennsylvania published a second study about the victims from cuba. using advanced brain imaging, they were able to present the first scientific evidence that the diplomats did in fact have physical damage to the structure of their brains. ( ticking ) >> how do you report on the invisible? >> were there moments where you had doubts about what you were hearing? >> yeah, i mean, frankly... >> go to 60minutesovertime.com sponsored by colaguard. cologuard: colon cancer screening for people 50

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>> stahl: going to medical school today takes more than ambition, good grades in biology in college, and an appetite for hard work. it takes a willingness to incur a crushing amount of debt. student debt in general is in crisis in this country. all told, borrowers owe $1.5 trillion-- more than people owe in credit card debt or on car loans. people have borrowed money to attend medical school for decades, but the scale of the debt has skyrocketed in recent years, along with just about every other cost in health care. the average medical student now graduates with a debt burden as big as a home mortgage. as we first reported in april,

one of america's top medical schools, n.y.u. in new york, has come up with a radical solution. >> announcer: joseph babinski. >> stahl: it's a tradition on the very first day of medical school. the so-called white coat ceremony-- a rite of passage for 24-year-old joe babinski and his 100 classmates at new york university. >> joe babinski: it's kind of this transition point, where you go from being a potential student, to a member of the medical community, even if you're at the bottom rung of the ladder still. >> stahl: yeah. >> babinski: and it's-- it's a pretty significant experience. it marks the beginning of your journey, so to say. >> stahl: as he began that journey, joe was expecting to take on a great burden. how much debt did you expect you'd be taking on? >> babinski: i anticipated taking on about $200,000. >> stahl: i can't imagine starting life with that on your shoulders. but a lot of medical students, a

lot of young doctors have that. most? >> babinski: i would say most. >> ezekiel emanuel: graduating medical school, 85%, 86% of students have debt. >> stahl: dr. ezekiel emanuel is chair of medical ethics and health policy at the university of pennsylvania. he says the prospect of so much debt prevents many people who could be great doctors from even applying to medical school. >> emanuel: most of us think that it really deters people from middle class and lower income families. they look at $200,000, it seems like a huge mountain to climb. and it gets scary. >> stahl: and it compounds, because you're not paying it off. >> emanuel: correct. and-- >> stahl: so the interest grows. it gets worse. and that's a burden. i would think it-- it-- diverts attention from medical school as well, if you actually-- >> emanuel: i think people are stressed by it. >> stahl: as a third-year n.y.u. med student elaine deleon felt that stress from day one. could your family afford medical school?

>> elaine deleon: definitely not. ( laughs ) definitely not. >> deleon: we are looking for pericholecystic fluid. >> stahl: her family is originally from the dominican republic. her dad is a retired chef. her mother died years ago. she agonized over her dream of being a doctor because of the cost. how much did you have to borrow for your first year? >> deleon: i borrowed $76,000, and if i were to pay that off in-- on a ten-year plan, it would be $100,000 by the time i paid it off. >> stahl: wow. and that's just your first year. >> deleon: that's just my first year. >> stahl: it's unfathomable. >> deleon: yeah. but i think that ultimately, like, a life of serving is more important to me. and that's really-- what-- what, like, cinched it. that i-- i needed to pursue this, despite the debt that i would be accruing. >> stahl: elaine's ambition is to be a primary-care doctor treating poor people, but she says that the debt burden forced

her to consider a different choice. >> deleon: of course you hear the, like, s-- prime specialties, where you get paid the most. so you hear dermatology, you hear surgery, you hear all of these things. and so it's easy, when you're coming in, to be, like, "well, i paid a lot of money to be here, like, i should really get my money's worth and try to pursue these more lucrative specialties." >> stahl: even if you're not interested. >> deleon: exactly. or at least consider them. >> stahl: dr. rafael rivera is dean of admissions at n.y.u. medical school. what are the better-paying specialties? >> rafael rivera: generally speaking, some of the surgical specialties tend to pay well. neurosurgery. you know, orthopedics pays well. the fields that tend to pay a little less are fields like pediatrics, and general internal medicine, family medicine. and-- >> stahl: and those are the doctors we have lacking. we don't have enough of those doctors. >> rivera: by 2030, we'll have a shortage of up to 49,000 primary care docs. >> stahl: that huge shortage, that distortion of the medical profession, is directly linked

to the mountains of debt. and on the day of that white coat ceremony last august, n.y.u. decided to do something about it. something dramatic. after all the first-year students had filed back to their seats, ken langone, chairman of the board of trustees, and his wife elaine, let everyone in on a secret. >> ken langone: as of this very moment, the n.y.u. school of medicine is now a tuition-free medical school. >> stahl: joe babinski was sitting in the front row, without a clue that was coming. >> babinski: and they announce that they are supplying full tuition scholarships for every student. >> stahl: did you think you heard them right? >> babinski: i-- i took a picture of the slide on my phone, because i-- i didn't want them to remove it and take it away. ( laughs ) so i was like, "i'm-- i'm documenting that this is happening." ( laughter ) >> stahl: but did you get it right away? we were there, and there was a sense of, "did i hear that right?" ( laughs )

>> babinski: i-- i still don't think i get it. >> stahl: sitting a few rows away, joe's parents, a municipal employee and a retired cop, had a similar, "did he just say what i think he said?" reaction. >> dad: oh, my god! >> stahl: this was the real-time reaction of another father. >> dad: oh, my god, oh! >> rivera: at first, i see students looking around at each other. >> stahl: "did i hear what he said?" >> rivera: yeah. there were-- there were gasps, there was some quiet, there was some screaming. and then, all of a sudden, the chants started getting louder and louder. and before you knew it, the-- the audience had erupted into cheers of joy. ( cheering ) >> stahl: n.y.u.'s free tuition applies not just to first-year med students, but to every current student, in every class. they do still have to pay their own room and board, but for these students, it's a gift worth more than $200,000 each. >> langone: and these kids went

nuts. one father yells out, "i told you you picked the right place!" ( laughter ) >> stahl: ken langone made his fortune as a co-founder of home depot. he and elaine donated $100 million toward the free tuition initiative, and he helped raise the additional $350 million needed to make it a reality. >> langone: well, that's my job here. >> stahl: to go out and ask other people for money? >> langone: oh, i go out, and i look at somebody nice like you, and i grab you by your ankles, and i shake you. >> stahl: the money comes out! ( laughs ) >> langone: and, when you promise me there's no more nickels, i turn you right side up. but seriously? i have two jobs here. i'm a cheerleader, and i'm a fundraiser. >> stahl: tell us how this came about. >> langone: bob grossman, when he became dean, i sat him down. i said, "all right, boss, what are we going to do?" and he said to me, "one of the things i would love to have happen is for, one day, for us to be tuition-free." >> stahl: he said that right in the beginning? >> langone: 11 years ago. >> stahl: when he first came? okay. >> langone: 11 years ago. i said, "you know what, bob? let's do it." >> professor: and here's the way it works.

>> stahl: it took more than a decade, but n.y.u. now has the endowment to offer free tuition to every med student, in perpetuity. >> langone: when we announced it, a mother, a pediatrician, came up to me, 30 years out of medical school, and she told me she was still paying off her medical school debt. and she said, "this morning, when i woke up and i knew i was coming here," she said, "i was convinced i would be in debt when i died, to help my son become a doctor." these are great people. so, we just say, "you know what? let's do what we can to help make it easier for them." >> stahl: do you think this is going to make you a better doctor? >> babinski: i think without a doubt it'll make me a better doctor. >> stahl: really? how does it affect that? >> babinski: for one, i won't be working while i'm in school. i can focus on learning the medicine and being good at it. >> stahl: and that pressure isn't on your shoulders. >> babinski: there's none. >> langone: i think about the mindset of a kid saying, "somebody did something for me. now, i've got to do something for somebody." okay? think of that.

>> stahl: yeah. >> langone: that's a big thing. >> babinski: it is a lot. >> stahl: n.y.u.'s no-tuition model replaces what had been a patchwork system of scholarships and financial aid. now, every med student is on full scholarship, with absolutely no strings attached. this model says anybody who comes to n.y.u. medical school will come tuition free, as opposed to just the kids who need the money. >> emanuel: right. i like the-- a model which i call-- forgivable loans. that you basically say to every student, "we're loaning you all of medical school. and if you go into primary care or one of these other specialties that needs doctors, or you go practice in a rural community, like in south dakota, or you go into an inner-city community that's under-served, we're going to forgive your loan. on the other hand, you decide you want to go into one of those lucrative specialties, ophthalmology, or dermatology, or orthopedics, you're going to have to pay it back with interest. and i think that's a more

effective way of getting the goals society wants, than giving everyone-- tuition free. >> stahl: whatever the model, changing the "face" of the medical profession is a huge challenge. consider this: there are no more african american men in medical school today than there were 40 years ago. 40 years! right now, more than half of all medical students come from the richest 20% of american families, only about 5% from the poorest 20%. this means that wealthy areas have lots of doctors, and lower income areas don't. i know of so many communities in-- in poor areas, that don't have a doctor at all. no doctor. is there anything in this program that encourages people to go out there? >> rivera: if you are from a rural background, you do tend to go back to practice in a rural setting more often than people

who are not from a rural background. if you are from an under- represented minority group, similarly, you also tend to go back to inner city under-served areas. >> stahl: since the announcement, applications to n.y.u. have boomed, especially from minorities. >> deleon: i think just the idea that a lot of people who come from backgrounds like mine, low income, without parents who are able to afford medical school, i think that it's a huge draw. and i think that it's a needed draw for the patient population that's served by n.y.u. students. i think that there's a lot of folks at bellevue, where i work-- this is just anecdotal, but i would say at least 60% of the patients are latinos, and this is an excellent way to draw the right people to the right institution. >> stahl: how's your spanish? >> deleon: very good. ( laughs ) >> stahl: excellent? >> deleon: excellent. >> stahl: so they can-- you can really communicate with them. >> deleon: yeah. ( speaking spanish ) >> stahl: elaine deleon was in the final year of an accelerated three-year med school program,

one year less than the norm. but when we saw her on the day of the announcement... >> deleon: you're not going to believe the news that just came out. >> stahl: ...calling her dad to give him the news? you wouldn't know she was saving just one year of tuition. >> deleon: already, i felt like one of the luckiest medical students in the country because i am in the three-year program. i'm already decided on primary care, i'm already going into this residency program here. and then all of a sudden it's, like, "oh, and by the way, like, your last year is free." and it's like, it was just this incredible feeling of freedom. >> stahl: so do you think all the other medical schools are going to at least try one model or another of free tuition? >> emanuel: absolutely. >> stahl: they all will? >> emanuel: and-- and i-- i mean, i think almost all of the medical schools had been driving to that before n.y.u. made its announcement. and i think they will redouble their efforts. this has been a issue that most deans of medical schools are passionate about. >> stahl: they'd better be,

because otherwise, those deans at harvard and hopkins and stanford are likely to see the very best medical students attending n.y.u.-- for free. >> langone: you have a right to push and say, "why didn't you make kids who could afford to pay, pay?" because we really wanted to be blind, in terms of the kids coming here. and we want them to know that they owe us nothing. that, one day, if you're dealing with a patient who can't afford to have something done, you might say, "it's on me." pass it on. >> stahl: just after this story aired in april, an anonymous donor reached out and offered to pay all of elaine deleon's existing student debt, saying they want to encourage her and others to specialize in primary care where patients badly need it.

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( ticking ) >> cooper: every once in a while, we come across a story of people trying to push the limits of what human beings can do. athletes competing not just against each other, but against mother nature herself. when we first met a surfer named garrett mcnamara six years ago, he had just set a world record for riding the biggest wave anyone ever had. surfers from around the world

have been trying to break mcnamara's record ever since. as you're about to see, someone finally has. each winter, big wave surfers bring their boards and their bravery to an unlikely spot where the waves can get as tall as buildings. as we initially reported last november, it's not in hawaii or australia. it's off the coast of portugal, in an ancient town called nazareé, where garrett mcnamara first had the ride of his life. ( waves crashing ) >> ooh, boy! >> cooper: the giant waves appear off nazareé every winter, just as they have for thousands of years. few surfers knew about this place, until 2011, when garrett mcnamara was towed into this 78-foot wave by a jet ski. he had a camera mounted on his surfboard, and one on the shore, recording him as he got into place, let go of the tow rope, and began his record-setting ride.

>> garrett mcnamara: i didn't realize it was that big of a wave, until it came down from above, and just, boom, right on my shoulders. and it almost squashed me. i almost collapsed. >> cooper: it's hard for people who have not ridden a 78-foot wave to understand what it feels like, the power of that wave. ( waves crashing ) how do you describe it? >> mcnamara: a lot of us have snowboarded or skied. just imagine going as fast as you go down a mountain, and then imagine hitting some ice, maybe some moguls. and then imagine an avalanche coming down after you. then imagine not trying to run away from it, trying to stay as close as possible to it the whole time. and-- and have it ch-- chasing you, and now the mountain's moving, and-- and not just the avalanche, but the whole mountain is moving.

that's what it's like, riding these giant waves. >> cooper: it sounds terrifying. >> mcnamara: for the average person, could easily be hell. >> cooper: if you haven't figured it out by now, garrett mcnamara is not your average person. he started focusing on big waves in the mid '90s, attracted by the challenge and the rush of adrenaline he got riding them. before setting the world record, he'd already made a name for himself with some incredible rides... and some epic wipeouts. ( crowd reactions ) >> mcnamara: i broke ribs, three different times. broke feet, hurt this knee, back, stitches from head to toe. >> cooper: how many times have you been stitched up? >> mcnamara: i don't know. at least a hundred, if not more.

and-- and i-- i've stopped going to the doctor. i just use crazy glue now, so i just- >> cooper: you what? >> mcnamara: yeah, yeah. i crazy glue everything. if i can crazy glue it, it's getting crazy glued. if you put it perfectly back together and put some crazy glue on it, done, and back in the water that day. >> cooper: mcnamara first surfed the waters off nazareé, portugal in 2010. when we first came here in 2012, there weren't many surfers riding these monster waves. today, thanks in large part to garrett mcnamara, the water is now crowded with them. and onshore, throngs of spectators gather around a 100-year-old lighthouse, to watch the incredible rides, and dangerous falls. >> mcnamara: it's like "water world." like, dog fight for waves now. it's really funny. >> cooper: people are competing for waves. >> mcnamara: yeah, competing,

fighting. yeah, full on. >> cooper: surfers want to challenge themselves here in nazareé. >> mcnamara: this is the proving ground, when it comes to a team. much more about teamwork here. you need somebody with a jet ski to watch over you. and once it gets over 60 feet, everybody's challenging themselves and their skills here. >> cooper: it's dangerous even for the jet skiers. >> mcnamara: oh, the-- it's almost more dangerous because you got this big machine. all a sudden, if a wave lands on you and you're stuck with the machine... >> cooper: in november 2017, mcnamara was riding a jet ski, towing his friend, british surfer andrew cotton, into this massive wave in nazareé. it didn't go as planned. >> mcnamara: ( bleep ) this thing literally exploded like a bomb.

and he flew into mid-air like a cannonball. he was a human cannonball. >> cooper: cotton was in the wrong spot on the wave, and had to jump off his board. he disappeared momentarily, before being thrown forward like a rag doll. he landed hard on the water and broke his back. >> andrew cotton: the shock went through my back. it... it was like hitting concrete. >> cooper: cotton was rescued and brought onto the beach. he spent months recovering, but is already back in nazareé surfing once again. >> cotton: as wipeouts go, it wasn't really that bad. >> cooper: dude, you broke your back. i mean-- >> cotton: yeah, but it was-- it was an impact. and the thing is, is-- is the-- the amazing thing about nazareé is, you never know what you're going to get. >> cooper: that's what makes nazareé so exciting. the same day andrew cotton got hurt, a brazilian surfer named rodrigo koxa caught the ride of his life on this wave that some observers thought might have broken garrett mcnamara's record.

>> maya, you are officially amazing. >> cooper: and just a few months later, another brazilian surfer, maya gabeira set a new women's world record on a wave that measured 68 feet. >> cooper: who do you think will be the next surfer to set a world record here? >> cotton: there's a lot of capable people to set the next world record. >> cooper: we wanted to see these world-famous waves up close. so, we rigged mcnamara's jet ski with three mini-cameras, and attached another to the end of a stick i could easily carry. we also placed three cameras with high-powered zoom lenses on the cliffs overlooking where the waves break, and hired another cameraman, jorge leal, to follow us. with eight cameras rolling and two jet skis, we took off from the harbor in nazareé. so this is the area you try to surf in?

>> mcnamara: yeah. >> cooper: we hoped to see for ourselves just how powerful... whoa! ...and dangerous the waves here are. i'm good. >> mcnamara: come right on up, hold on tight. >> cooper: we had no idea what we were in for. >> mcnamara: woo hoo! look at that! >> cooper: mcnamara considered these waves relatively tame. they were only 20 to 30 feet high. >> mcnamara: look right there, anderson! rainbow, rainbow! look at that! yeah, holy moly! that's amazing. now it's time to hold on. >> cooper: it's not just the wind and the current that makes the waves here so massive-- it's the existence of an underwater canyon. at its deepest point, the canyon is nearly three times the depth of the grand canyon. it starts about 100 miles off- shore and runs nearly all the

way onto shore. >> mcnamara: all this energy, and it funnels in like a "v." so all this energy, it comes down the canyon, and as soon as it hits a shallow point, kaboom! >> cooper: getting hit with all that energy is, acrding to mcnamara, part of the joy of big wave surfing. on this wave in nazareé, he ditched his board to prevent it from hitting him. you can see mcnamara as a little speck on the lip of the wave. this is the view from the camera on his board. >> mcnamara: a lip lands on me. i get obliterated. and i'm under forever. and i was just loving every bit of it. it was amazing. >> cooper: the way you say, "obliterated," it's sort of blissful, and sort-- it's a little weird. >> mcnamara: yeah, whoo! >> cooper: what's the enjoyment of getting obliterated, of getting wiped out? >> mcnamara: i think it's-- you're-- just out-- there's--

out of control. like, when you're riding a wave, you-- still in control somewhat. you're at the mercy of the wave, but you can choose your path and your destiny. when you're underwater getting pounded, you are at the mercy of the ocean. you're like a grain of sand in the washing machine on spin cycle, going all different directions. and-- >> cooper: and that loss of control is... you feel alive. >> mcnamara: feel alive. >> cooper: but three years ago, mcnamara's desire to feel alive nearly cost him his life. it was in the northern california surf spot known as mavericks when he attempted to catch this wave, which he thinks was 50 to 60 feet high. >> mcnamara: i was in the perfect spot, paddled, stood up, thought i had it. >> cooper: oh my god... oooh. >> mcnamara: and right when i hit, i was going so fast, it-- just-- broke my-- shattered my head, nine pieces. >> cooper: the-- >> mcnamara: humerus-- the humerus head shattered in nine

pieces and broke the shaft off the head, where it lodged itself in my pec. it was-- >> cooper: wait a minute. the bone lodged in your pec? mcnamara was rescued by a rider on a jet ski, and loaded into an ambulance. when you went to see a doctor, what did they say? >> mcnamara: the doctor-- they said i may nev-- might never surf again. >> cooper: at home in hawaii, his recovery was slow and excruciating. mcnamara's shoulder had to be surgically reconstructed with nine screws and a metal plate. he was bedridden for months. >> mcnamara: i wanted to die. that's how bad the pain was. >> cooper: his wife nicole helped him through his rehabilitation, which took more than a year. mcnamara is 52-years-old now. he and nicole live in portugal near the water during the winter with their children. he still feels the pain in his shoulder when he paddles, but

he's back on the water, and says he is a different person than he was before the accident. >> mcnamara: you know, the main thing it did is, it took the monkey off my back. >> cooper: what do you mean? >> mcnamara: i used to have to ride every single swell everywhere in the world, if i had the ability to get there, or i was on suicide watch. >> cooper: you were always looking for the biggest wave. >> mcnamara: biggest, best, perfect. and now, the monkey jumped off. i can-- i can be sitting at home in hawaii and see the biggest swell of the year coming here and be so happy and just say-- "no, i'm happy right here." >> cooper: it sounds like at 50, one of the biggest daredevils out there is growing up. >> mcnamara: i don't want to say i'm growing up, but i definitely feel content. >> cooper: that may be just as well. remember that wave brazilian rodrigo koxa caught in november 2017? after the world surf league analyzed video and photographs-- >> the biggest wave award is rodrigo koxa. ( cheers and applause ) >> cooper: --they declared it was 80 feet tall, two feet taller than garrett mcnamara's

record-setting wave. mcnamara says he couldn't be happier for koxa and for nazareé, which remains in the record books. he may have lost his world record, but that same month, he gained something much more important. a baby daughter. her middle name is nazareé. ( ticking ) >> cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. i'm adam zuker in our new york studio. at the u.s. open today, roger federer and serena williams both won their fourth-round matches in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. and in baseball, houston's justin verlander no-hit toronto to become the sixth player in mlb history with at least three career no hitters, striking out 14 blue jays in the 2-0 win. career no hitters, striking out 14 blue jays in the 2-0 win. for 24/7news and highlight, visit cbssportshq.com.

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( ticking ) >> pelley: i'm scott pelley. please join us for a special tribute to our colleague steve kroft next week on "60 minutes." ( ticking ) ♪ corey is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread

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captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. captioned by media ac ss group at wg access.wgbh.org captioning funded by cbs >> previously on "big brother"! mickey, holly, nicole and cliff made a final four deal. >> you have my back, i have ya'lls. >> absolutely. >> they wanted to take out christie. >> christie is my white whale. she's a powerful threat to me. i'm going hun and it's big game. >> after christie made a deal with mickey and holly to save herself -- >> i would be willing to be a pawn. >> here i am. use me. >> it kept her in the house another