this is a beautiful thing and a great honor. thank you very much. >> you can follow my tweets @lawrence. you can follow the sho show @thelastword. and that is tonight's last word. i remember just sobbing. >> they're a young family fighting for their children's lives. >> 1:30 in the morning, we got a phone call, i thought that's it. >> it's possible each one of their five children may need a new heart. >> we have followed them for more than five years. through breakthroughs. >> this is my pump and it goes up into here and it goes -- connects to my heart. >> and heart breaks. >> erin needs to find a good

match, and she needs to find it relatively soon. >> i get scared to death that she won't be there in the morning. >> you'll never forget their scour scourge. ♪ when jason bingham thinks of home, this is what he sees in his mind's eye. this is as much a part of him as breathing. >> god's country. you can't see any neighbors, we're as far as you can see, it's a beautiful place. >> here just off the oregon trail, is a place the modern world seems to have passed right by. people live off the land. old ethics hang on. it's why jason and his wife stacy chose to settle here, their ideal place to raise a family, it's where they hoped to spend the rest of their lives.

but circumstances -- would anyone have believed it could happen? no, but it did. a deeply personal and terrifying journey, from a rural eden to the heart of silicon valley, and the cutting edge of medical science. >> you can't wrap your head around what the future holds, and we didn't have this in mind at all. >> for reasons you'll discover, they have allowed us along on their journey for more than five years now. they've even recorded some of it themselves. >> hi, guys. >> hello, there. >> how are you guys doing? >> fwin. >> their defenses as you'll see are exceptional courage and an unshakable family bond and an abiding desire to go home. >> hi. >> hi, easter morning. >> once it was all so very ordinary. a couple kids off to college in utah, happened to meet one day at church.

>> at first she didn't think i was all that fancy. but she learned to love me. >> a little nerdy. >> reporter: they had no idea what would be asked of them when they got married in june 1997, and moved to the very town jason was raised. >> how old are you? >> fine. >> what do you have on your plate? >> a candle and fire. >> each time, we had a healthy child. we've had concerns, if they got bit by a dog but never on this magnitude. >> a town of 400 or so, near the oregon/idaho border. here jason worked in his father's accounting pennsylvania.

stacy was an obstetrics nurse at a nearby hospital. and this was the home they loved. and where they'd imagine they'd raise their kids and live for the rest of their lives. >> umbrella. >> it takes each one of them to make us a family. sierra, megan, lindsay's been our little jabber jaws. she makes sure everyone stays in line. and then hunter who is just a happy go lucky 5-year-old full of energy and life. and gauge who is the family clown. >> we love it, it's just a party. >> but parties, of course don't last forever. because the family was about to become a tear phiing medical mystery. one of the strangest off the charts, stories we ever heard

of. >> it began in 2006 stacy was pregnant with their fourth child. the oldest threw up for several days. >> the doctor comes in and says, one of three things here, it could be pneumonia, a form of cancer or something called cardiomyopathy. the doctor told jason and stacy to take her to see a cardiologist immediately. the doctor there ordered an echocardiogram of sierra's heart. >> you hear him go off and make a few phone calls, he was talking about this kid, another kid that was really super sick and needed to go into intensive care. we were thinking, wow! that kid's really sick, glad that's not us. >> and then the technician came back and they understood. >> that kid was ours. >> they rushed sierra to intensive care, the diagnosis,

dilated cardiomyopathy. heart failure. >> what happens when a thing like that -- >> well, first you're in a misty fog, kind of like your world just came crashing in around you. and then just trying to put your mind around it, and grasp it. it's just fear. >> sierra was hospitalized for two rocky weeks, then sent home with medications, the doctors hopeds would help her. but she only got worse. >> i remember asking her to come help plant some flowers that would be coming back every year, so if something did happen i would have some kind of memory of her, she was too tired or too weak to do it. >> sierra was failing fast. there was nothing more the regional hospital near her home could do. she was flown to lucille packard children's hospital in silicon valley. even here, there were no easy

answers. doctor's gave jason and stacy the news, without an almost immediate heart transplant their daughter would die. >> it was horrible. when we say it was a nightmare, it was the worst time of our life. bar none, it was the worst three weeks of my life. >> the wait for a donor heart for a child could be months. time sierra didn't have. unless a child sized heart pump had just been invented in germany, called the berlin heart. exceptions were made for compassionate use. when the patient would die soon without some sort of intervention. >> it would take five days to get here, which we knew she wasn't going to make the five days. to say there's a time when you've shed every tear you can shed and go home that night completely exhausted, physically, emotionally. we did at that point. >> we called as many people as

we could, and asked, please pray for our little child tonight. 1:30 in the morning we get a phone call. i thought, that's it. we thought that was for the worst. and the doctors called and they said, we have a heart available for sierra. i was like, are you serious? >> the bingham's prayer's were answered. the next afternoon, sierra received her new heart. it had belonged to a 4-year-old boy. in the world of heart transplants, size matters more than age. sierra's new heart would grow as she did. >> i think we knew when it came, we knew everything was going to be fine. >> the binghams wondered why? why did sierra's own heart fail? did they need to worry about their other kids? the doctors assured them the likelihood was extremely remote, but just to be sure, they tested them both. and echocardiograms detected no hint of the disease in the other

children. there was no history of heart disease at all on either jason or stacy's side of the family. >> so we thought, good, rule that out, that's not an issue then. >> their baby, they named him hunter, arrived one month later, perfectly healthy. sierra and the other kids were all thriving, two years later, jason and stacy decided to grow their family by one more, and they named their youngest son gauge. four more years passed, it was now 2012, and sierra had been living with her transplanted heart for six years and was doing well. life seemed pretty perfect. and then one day lindsay threw up at school, tummy ache. >> we thought, well, it could not be the same -- i think both of us were probably in denial. >> they took lindsay to the er in nearby baker city. where the doctor examined her and asked jason and stacy about

sierra. >> i said, well, she had dilated cardiomyopat cardiomyopathy. >> yeah, she has the same thing. >> i lost it, i couldn't keep my composure. and i remember just sobbing. >> she says, what, i don't want a transplant. was the first thing lindsay said. >> my tummy doesn't hurt any more. i'm okay. >> she could see the fear in our eyes. >> that was the last time she saw it. >> nor did they show sierra their fear when they told her about her sister. >> i was a little scared, i was like please not this again. because i didn't want lindsay to feel the pain like i did. >> lindsay grew so sick so quickly, that the very next day she was flown to lucille packard children's hospital, the very

same place they brought sierra for her heart transplant six years earlier, now it was impossible not to think there was some genetic link involving their daughter's heart disease. so jason brought the rest of the children here too for tests. >> is it going to hurt? >> no. >> it was on june 8th, a friday. we were sat down and told that of our five children, all of them either had cardiomyopathy or had flaggers or symptoms that they watch that can turn into a cardiomyopathy. >> their doctors were as astonished as they were. even though their echocardiograms years earlier, had looked normal. now, all of the bingham children, every single one would be confronted with the distinct possibility of requiring a heart transplant just to stay alive. that is when we first met the binghams. at least in part to make people aware of the desperate need for donors. they agreed to trust us, to

allow our cameras to follow them, through their moments of despair and courage and bottomless love. >> okay. right here. a journey unlike anything you've ever seen before. (hard exhalation) honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a medicine that was proven, in the largest heart failure study ever, to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto.

the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ when can we do this again, grandpa? well, how about tomorrow? ask your doctor about entresto and help make tomorrow possible. ask your doctor about entresto patients that i see about dry mouth. they feel that they have to drink a lot of water. medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. i like to recommend biotene. it replenishes the moisture in your mouth. biotene definitely works. [heartbeat] ♪ is this for me? [alarm beeps] happy? wooo! let out your inner child at the lexus december to remember sales event. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage,

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when trouble came to visit the bingham family of haines oregon, all five of their children had cardiomyopathy, meaning it was in their dna. every one of them could one day need a heart transplant. genetic testing is a rapidly developing science, even now it cannot tell the binghams why. why their children have heart disease or where it came from.

dr. daniel bernstein has been treating the binghams since 2006. >> there are standard tests that can be done in 50% of the cases we don't find anything. that doesn't mean there isn't a genetic cause, it just means we haven't yet identified that gene. >> by 12, sierra had been living with a transplanted heart for half her life. on june 20th, 2012 she was put on the transplant list. to lighten her mood, jason promises to let his beard grow until she got a new heart. >> i don't care how long it takes, as long as she hangs around, i'm hanging around. >> the average wait is three months, doctors warned the binghams it could be much longer. >> the good and the bad news is that the supply of donors is infrequent. and we could get one tomorrow, and it could take six more months to get her a donor. >> just a week and a half after

going on the transplant list, lindsay's heart could no longer sustain her. she needed the berlin heart right away. >> it's just like a heart transplant only i won't be getting a heart? >> the surgery was successful, buying lindsay critical time. while she was recovering in icu, her parents who had been through so much, experienced another set back. it was gauge this time. >> he wasn't acting right. >> they took him to the emergency room. yeah, he's in complete heart block, we need to admit him. >> and we had doctors checking him more than lindsay that night. >> heart block is an electrical problem with the heart that throws it out of rhythm. at the age of 3, gauge urgently needed a pacemaker. his surgery went smoothly, and by the end of that awful day, the binghams had two children in postoperative icu. here you can see the signs of

the surgery lindsay had to implant her berlin heart pump. it connects through her abdomen to her heart, this massive cart rolls alongside lindsay wherever she goes. it's the same device doctors hoped would arrive in time to save sierra's life six years earlier, when a donor heart suddenly became available. by the time lindsay needed to be placed on the berlin heart, it had been approved for use in the u.s. by the fda. the bingham children are nothing if not resilient and within two weeks, gauge with his new pacemaker was up and about. and lindsay who had been near death. was proudly showing off her clever mechanical heart. >> this is my berlin pump. and it goes up into here, and it goes -- connects to my heart. and this pump is the air, and this machine helps me.

if it got turned off, they would hook me up to a little thing-amajiggy. >> what else are we going to do now? >> wait until a heart comes, right? >> let's take a look, lie back. >> now the wait for a heart is soon an added urgency. how long could the heart pump hold out. because it was artificial it threw off little blood clots, which kept everyone watching, tense on edge. >> dr. david rosenthal is a cardiologist on the team treating the siblings. >> her lungs are over here, and this is her heart. her heart is much larger than it should be. >> how big should it be? >> we would expect it to fit in half the width of the lungs, it's closer to 2/3. so it's quite enlarged compared to what it should be. that's even with the berlin heart pump in place.

>> lindsay's enlarged heart was very weak, pumping just 10% of what a heart should pump. that's where the berlin heart came in about. >> this has allowed her feelle thy enough, she's a regular 8-year-old girl. it's a false sense of security, because you forget she's on a pump that's keeping her heart going. >> when i stand up, you can feel it pumping. >> you can feel your heartbeating, but it's bet beating on the outside of your body. >> it's kind of scary. >> lindsay waited in the hospital for a heart, the rest of the family moved into the ronald mcdonald house across the street. lindsay's siblings enrolled in city schools, a world away from anything they knew before. >> my class and grade was 28 kids, so now my grade is 200

kids. >> sierra had been where lindsay was now, and in daily visits to the hospital, offered advice about the endless needles, the biopsies, the daily terrors of her new left. >> i was really scared, so i asked sierra what it was really like to have a heart? >> what did she tell you? >> she told me it was kind of scary at first, but then you're fine. >> her siblings worked to build her up, no rivalry here. >> i know they've paid a heavy price for all the attention they get. i'm okay with them getting attention. i'm really okay. >> go lindsay. >> and as jason and stacy waited. mired in their impossibly bad luck, a remarkable likeness seemed to carry them through their long draining days. their sleepless nights, they did

not complain. they remained upbeat for the kids. and taught them the meaning of gratitude for what they have been given. >> do they understand where the hearts come from? >> yeah, they do. >> dad said it has to be coming from an actual person. i was like, that's weird. and then he said, somebody has to die. and i was like, oh, kind of shock. >> donor and patient information is kept strictly confidential. but messages between the families can be exchanged anonymously through the donor network. shortly after sierra's transplant, the bingham's sent a thank you to the donor family. they received a letter back from the grandmother of the 4-year-old boy. >> we're thankful to his mother and grandmother that wrote the letter, and the sacrifice she

made to allow sierra to live. >> just as you'll be eternally grateful to some other family. >> right now i pray for that family out there. someone out there in the western united states has a child that's going to save our life. we get there are some responsibilities of love you gotta do on your own. and some you shouldn't have to shoulder alone. like ensuring your family is protected, today and tomorrow, no matter what the future brings. see how life insurance from lincoln can help start protecting your family's financial future now, at lincolnfinancial.com.

i am going to be doing some push-ups. >> there was, of course, no way to know if or when there would be a heart for lindsay bingham. jason and stacy her parents were keenly aware that some 50 children die each year waiting for a heart. >> all children are not the same. we need to use a heart that's appropriate for her size and weight. for lindsay, a heart that's too small would be useful for another child. even if she were higher on the list, if it's too big or small, we couldn't use it for her. >> now all they can do is wait and hope. two months passed, then three,

the seasons changed, jason's beard grew longer. other kids remained stable. adapted to city life. both gauge and sierra's checkups were happily routine. back in haines, oregon, people understood all of this cost money. on average, $1.4 million for a heart transplant. the bingham's have insurance. it doesn't cover the very expensive multiple medications the kids will need every day for the rest of their lives. tens of thousands of dollars. the people of haines put on an auction in the local schoolho e schoolhouse. they sold hand made quilts, a custom made saddle. jason's brother jake donated 10 hours of fence mending. in the end, this small community with more cattle than people, raised $75,000 for the binghams.

>> i'm very humbled for the amazing support we have. >> they started a website, hearts for binghams. >> as the long wait for a donor heart stretched on. jason occasionally went home to lend a hand for the family cattle drive or pick up clothes for the kids who were now outgrowing them. >> it's a lonely place to be here. i don't know how we're going to continue to live here. we want to live here so bad. >> but, of course, they couldn't go home. >> today's labor day, we thought we'd give lindsay the chance to labor. >> they celebrated halloween in the hospital. followed by thanksgiving. six months passed. >> christmas eve. we're having a snowball fight california style. >> our new quote has been, we're one day closer. >> then christmas. jason and stacy, brought an

artificial tree into lindsay's room, she put on the finishing touch, her beads of courage. each bead representing a needle poke. a day in the hospital, a procedure she's endured. the string wrapped around the tree three times. but christmas came and went. >> i can't go outside when it's raining or snowing. so it's hard to stay in here when i can't. >> as they waited. jason kept the letter they received from sierra's donor family near his own heart. it had been sent to them through the origin donor network, with no identifying information other than the donor's first name. >> something that's really private and personal to us, and we haven't shown this to sierra yet. she wants to see it. i think it's to the point where she wants to see it. >> it's a bittersweet -- someone's tragedy became our wonderful exciting life. >> his name was nicholas.

she sent us a picture of him. >> that boy looked like he was going to be an exciting little boy, kind of like me with a fun personality. >> sierra made a quilt square thanking nicholas for giving her the gift of life. she hoped one day to meet his family opinion she tucked away her hope for now, as the wait for a heart for lindsay stretched past eight months. valentine's day was approaching. >> what are you looking forward to? >> getting a new heart. >> and then? >> and go home. >> 6:00 p.m. on february 12th, a doctor pulled stacy out of lindsay's room for a chat. >> i know the secret now. >> mom? >> she thinks she knows. she doesn't know anything. >> i know it. >> then stacy called jason and waited in lindsay's room for him to arrive. he passed the nursing station alive with excitement.

>> she doesn't know yet. >> guess what? >> i knew it. >> guess what? >> you got to guess. look at the window over there. >> do i have a heart. >> you have a heart. >> yay! [ screaming ] >> it's going to happen. it's finally going to happen, princess. >> you waited. >> we did it. >> so she did. though what was coming next was, well -- who could predict such a thing. (mom) and it just immediately brought something positive in our life. "oh, i gotta get up get matthew on his treatment." (matthew) it's not that bad, though. (mom) yeah. (matthew) the good thing about the surgeries is i get to have

a popsicle at the end. (mom) he makes the best of everything and he teaches us to be strong and brave, too. (vo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped grant the wishes of fifteen hundred kids so far. get a new subaru and we'll donate two hundred fifty dollars more to help those in need. ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪ replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. discover card. i justis this for real?match, yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover.

the energy conscious whopeople among usle? say small actions can add up to something... humongous. a little thing here. a little thing there. starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too? turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. richard louie with your hour's top stories. a volcano in mexico had three eruptions, sending ash and smoke

as high as 2 1/2 miles. the first eruption happened early in the evening friday. the university of kansas and arizona state university have rescinded awards given to charlie rose for his work in journalism. cbs fired rose earlier this week. pbs cancelled rose's interview show for the same way. now, back to "heart break: saving the bingham's." she's not answering? leave her a message. >> no, it's still ringing. >> lindsay bingham has been waiting for a new heart for 239 days. now, finally they've found a match. >> i have my heart. yes! >> lindsay can't wait to call one of her favorite nurses to share the good news.

>> i was actually tapping my heart, like, it's all right, i'm going to miss you. but not really. >> the doctors schedule surgery for the next afternoon. >> i'm just scared a little. pretty scared. >> they're going to be cutting up my chest, and then putting in a heart. >> a swirl of conflicting emotions, even more so for lindsay's parents. stacy has news she'd been dreading to share with jason. it's about their eldest daughter sier sierra, who had a routine checkup earlier in the day. >> sierra is downstairs, she's actually -- >> how is she doing? >> she's going to be admitted to the cvicu. >> it stands for cardiovascular intensive care unit. >> i don't know what the deal

is, what's going on? >> they just said that her pressures are really high, and so they wanted to admit her to the icu, they don't know if it's rejection or something else. >> and we have a daughter that's going in for a transplant for a few hours, and a daughter being admitted into the icu. i can't tell you how much i need that woman right there. >> jason and stacy go to learn more about what's going on with sierra. nearly seven years after her heart transplant, her biopsy is showing her body is rejecting the donor hearts. >> the measurements for her catheterization, were significantly higher than last time, and we need to find out why. >> how is it going? >> jason and stacy tried to put a positive spin on the news when they tell sierra. >> they want to put you in the

unit until they get your biopsy results back, so we'll know this afternoon, decide is it rejection or something else. >> this is a really scary topic. >> seeing how scared sierra was, depressed me. she knew she could do it, but she thought she was over, she didn't want to have to do anything again. it makes me feel guilty too. i've never done anything, and here she is going through so much. >> it's a great day, baby. lindsay's going in for a transplant, and you're in the best place you can be right now, and they caught it. >> one day we'll look back at this and laugh our heads off. >> the binghams know exactly how serious rejection can be. if treatment doesn't work, it could mean sierra will go back on the transplant list. >> i'm sick to my stomach, to be honest, just because she gets the transplant doesn't mean it's over, it's just the beginning.

>> mind in turmoil, heart pulled in two directions. jason returns to lindsay's room, where he and one of lindsay's nurses try to keep her upbeat before surgery. the other kids will stay with friends during what will be a very long night. >> what do you think? >> hours passed, and the surgery is delayed and delayed because one organ donor can save up to eight lives, doctors will wait until they've found recipients for all of them before removing the heart that will go to lindsay. >> we have more delays with the donor. they're still trying to place another origin. and it's taking a lot longer than i would have expected it to. >> we still have a good match for her, it's other organ donors they're trying to get located. >> we have accepted ours is not going to go away. there is -- it's always a very small outside chance that the heart goes bad for whatever reason. that risk is still there.

>> i just want to get it all over with. just get the whole thing over. >> and then quite suddenly it's upon them, lindsay learns she'll get her new heart in the first hours of valentine's day. >> midnight. >> guess what, valentine's day. >> yay! >> happy valentine's day. >> and finally 30 hours after they learned about the donor heart, it's time to go. >> i have chills right now, seeing her perk up, is everything i needed. let's get this thing around you like you mean it. >> with her baby blanket transformed into a superhero cape, she's ready to face the scariest event of her young life. >> this is where i get the biggest hug. i'll see you in a few minutes, right? >> right. >> you go to sleep, and then you

wake right up. >> and i'll feel better? >> yep. love you lindsay lou. >> my emotions are shot, i have no more tears left. >> as nurses watch over sierra, and the doctors prepare lindsay for transplant, jason and stacy are asked to pack up lindsay's room to make it available for another sick child. >> every time we look around, we can see the love of other people, like the big heart that the whole school signed and sent to her. >> the donor heart is being removed in a hospital in nevada. transplant surgeon olaf reinh t reinharts is watching the clock. >> from the time the heart gets taken out until the time it gets profused with blood again. >> in lindsay. >> it has to be kept as short as possible. >> what are you talking? five hours? >> we're talking a maximum of six hours. i'd rather keep it shorter than that. >> a team has gone to the hospital where the donor is, to retrieve the heart.

>> we got news that the cardiac team left with the heart, and the heart looks really good. lindsay's chest is open right now, so it's a go. she's getting her new heart. ard) honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a medicine that was proven, in the largest heart failure study ever, to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪

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hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground. 8-year-old lindsay lou bingham is inside the operating room, where surgeons work to replace her failing heart. it's 4:50 a.m., doctors put her on a heart/lung bypass machine, and begin to remove her diseased heart. it's badly scarred and twice the size it should be. as they're finishing, a call to the operating room. >> they're going to be here in

15 minutes. >> hi. is this the heart? >> yes, it is. >> 6:00 a.m., jason and stacy aren't prepared for the emotions they feel, as they see the donor heart arrive. >> the reality of it really sunk in, when we saw that cooler that says human heart on it. you see the nurse head down the hallway to my little princess who's opened up and waiting and ready for it. >> it's a strange emotion for observers too. to watch life captured in this small container, pass from one child to another even as a third heart struggles just down the hall. >> the heart looks perfect. implantation begins. meticulously surgeons stitch together five separate connections. the heart has not beaten since

it was taken from the donor nearly four hours earlier. the team will use a defibrillator to spark lindsay's new heart back to life. immediately, it begins to pump. and soon finds its rhythm. >> it took a couple hours longer than i expected, but everything went very, very smoothly. >> after nearly eight months of waiting and hoping. lindsay has her new heart. the binghams have two daughters notice cardiovascular icu now, as they get the good news about lindsay, their blood pressure spikes about 13-year-old sierra. >> i'd like to regroup with the whole team and see if we can come up with a treatment strategy for her. >> i guess i need to hear you say we have options. >> we do have options. >> we have options. i just need to hear that. your mind does weird things at 2:30 in the morning, and you have two kids in the icu, you

start jumping to these horrible conclusions. >> there are options to look into. but this is not the simplest thing to treat. i've always been very honest with you. >> there have been times in the past where we haven't been able to get it under control. >> sierra's biopsy results have shown that there are antibodies that are trying to attack her heart. they are going to try to remove the harmful antibodies from her heart. >> unbelievable. >> i was scared, i wasn't really preened for it. >> there's a chance that to survive, sierra will one day need a second transplant. >> the reality of it is, it's never going to be the same. it's -- there's always going to be something. and now that always something is going to be times two. it was really hard, you felt like your emotions are on a roller coaster, and you want to be happy nor the one, but you're

feeling so bad and want to cry with the other one. >> and, of course, there is little gauge who has the same heart disease and already a pacemaker at age 4. >> he still has that same heart disease that's progressing, and every time he says my tummy hurts, my tummy hurts. >> jason and stacy do their own form of triage, focusing on the sickest child. for now, that's lindsay. >> lindsay, we're all here now. megan's here, so's gauge. >> the days after a heart transplant are critical. and lindsay's first few bring complications. soon, she's up and walking without an artificial heart pump for the first time in eight months. and jason keeps his promise to her, but letting lindsay cut off the stranglely beard he started growing. >> one at a time.

>> do it, do it. >> lindsay, lindsay. >> one down, three to go. >> two weeks after getting her new heart, lindsay is ready to leave the hospital. >> are you ready to go? >> oh, yeah. >> she's out of here. >> she isn't going far, >> she isn't going far, mind you, just down the street to ronald mcdonald house until both lindsey and sierra are cleared for the trip they so desperately want, the one back home. but first another biopsy to see if sierra's treatment stopped or slowed the infection. if the results are good jason and states ry are hoping to pack up their family and go home to oregon. as soon as school lets out at the end of may. lindsey's heart is working beautifully. no sign of rejection. but has the treatment for sierra's rejection worked? >> the pressure's inside the atrium which were elevated are still elevated. so it hasn't gotten better. >> reporter: sierra's heart pressures are the same as they

were at her last biopsy, and her coronary arteries have gotten smaller. and both those things are signs of heart disease. >> just another punch in the gut. every once in a while the true reality of what we're going through sinks in, and that was one of those moments. >> so what this means is that the treatments were unsuccessful. and so most -- they're going to wait to see what the numbers are for the antibody media rejection and then they'll meet together and make a plan. >> so i'm just going to have to be -- >> not yet. >> that light at the end of the tunnel is so close. it's just right there. and then it's like the tunnel collaps collapsed. >> having failed to stop the rejection, doctors begin a different course of treatment. four more weeks go by. four uncertain weeks of waiting and hoping. hoping just to go home.

>> just seeing it again, seeing my real actual bed and not sharing with anyone. >> and then sierra undergoes another biopsy to see if the new treatments have worked. >> have fun. >> so we'll see you afterwards. >> and finally, the biopsy results come in. and it worked. at least for now the rejection has stopped. sierra's heart is looking good. >> that means we really can go home. is that what i'm seeing here? >> i think so. >> yeah. >> i think right now things are going well. go home, enjoy being in your home, and let's see how things go over the next couple years. if things quiet down, no problems, then you're fine where you are. >> okay. >> words the binghams wondered if they would ever hear again. and in spite of all they've been through, they are grateful. >> we've walked away twice now with two children still alive.

and that's more than some parents can say that have to leave here. and we can go home with five children. >> finally, 11 months after they left haines, oregon for palo alto, california as cloud and rain yielded to brilliant sunshine, it seemed like half the town gathered in the local school yard. [ applause ] and welcomed the little family caravan way huge surprise party. >> how are you? good to see you. >> speeches were not required. >> i want to hug you again. >> are you letting yourself feel like that's, it we're home? or can you quite go there? >> we've got a new norm now. but to think that it's over, no. it's just the beginning. but we're okay. it's great. we've been -- the doctors took care of us in california.

the human body's amazing. we've been truly blessed. and we're excited to be home. >> jason seemed to predict correctly that this calm wouldn't last. but even he couldn't have imagined the terrifying journey still ahead. nacho? [ train whistle blows ] what?! -stop it! -mm-hmm. we've been saving a lot of money ever since we switched to progressive. this bar is legit. and now we get an even bigger discount from bundling home and auto. i can get used to this. it might take a minute. -swing and a miss! -slam dunk! touchdown! together: sports!

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♪ the binghams are finally home, into their new normal, a life packed with the controlled chaos of raising five children. sierra and lindsey both have transplanted hearts, and little brother gage has a pacemaker. hunter and megan both continue to be fine. >> i love sitting there and being able to watch my kids be kids. and playing, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the play structure, and kind of watching them grow and play from afar.

and i look forward to that probably the most. it's just watching them be kids. >> two years have gone by, years during which they managed to stay here in rural oregon, far from the hospital in the home they love so much. lindsey is now off anti-rejection steroids that caused her face to swell. sierra is in high school, learning to drive. and gage? >> gage is doing well. he's a little rambunctious 6-year-old. >> it's going to tickle your forehead. >> they make the trek to palo alto every few months for checkups and biopsies, which lindsey actually looks forward to. >> i like seeing the doctors and stuff. >> biopsies have become so routine the girls bring homework to pass the time. >> oh, she does have a pencil. look at that. >> stacy is the kids' most loyal cheerleader, but on this trip to the hospital, january 2015, she's uneasy. >> i have a lot of anxiety over this one. is it just going to be something simple or is it going to be

something we're not prepared for? but it's the reality of it. >> sierra has had some swelling and a cough that won't go away. >> it's kind of like a post-traumatic stress disorder where we were so blindsided with lindsey that now you think okay, am i just hypersensitive or she has a cough. is that cough because it's a virus or is it because she's in congestive heart failure? >> all those tubes filled up? that is a lot. >> one after the other, the girls go in for their biopsies. the procedure that once terrified lindsey has become old hat. she's calm enough to joke with her doctors. >> at least i'm not crying. >> i'm not crying either. >> yeah, you've never cried. you're a man. >> the pressures are good. >> lindsey's transplanted heart is working beautifully. no sign of rejection. but what about sierra's? >> after this, baby girl, there's going to be a little bit

of pushing, okay? >> she's been fighting rejection for several years now. pediatric cardiologist seth hollander goes to stacy. >> compared to 2008 to now we're starting to see kind of a slow progression of the coronary problem. and that's not really something that's reversible. >> right. >> the real question to be perfectly honest, i don't mean to sort of jump on you, is whether or not it's time to start thinking about transplant number 2. >> stacy's gut feeling was right. >> your pressure number's a little bit up again. did they tell you? >> yeah. >> and i think oh, my goodness, how many kids, how many times? you get that feeling of impending doom like it's never going to end, it's just on repeat. >> yeah. >> transplanted hearts for reasons we don't fully understand don't last forever. so if you're an older person who's getting a transplant, you may be able to live out the natural duration of your life before your transplanted heart gives out. but fwe didn't transplant sierra at age of 7 years old to get her

to tenth grade. we want to give sierra a nice long normal life. >> and so sierra goes back on the transplant waiting list. but the doctors warn the wait could be much longer this time, as long as two years. and because of her condition, an artificial heart pump is not an option. while lindsey's and gage's heart failure affected the heart's ability to squeeze, sierra's problem is they'at her heart doesn't fully relax, a function that's just as important. as difficult as the news is to hear, in typical bingham form stacy finds a bright side. >> we're grateful for the breaks we get. the home breaks. i guess it's go home and get that breath of fresh air before the next thing hits. >> i think their strength comes from being a family. they're going through it together. and for what it's worth, if you're going through something terrible it's always great to go through it with people who love and support you. >> truly. >> and i think this family does this better than any other family i know.

>> a month later the binghams are back at the hospital to learn more about what's next for sierra. they bring gage along for a pacemaker adjustment. >> ready for mr. turtle? >> at the age of 6 he's had a pacemaker for three years now. doctors have discovered some abnormal beats they want to watch closely. >> sure seeing what's going on on the inside. all we see on the outside, he's as energetic and active as a kid can be. >> that's good to hear. >> that's great to hear. i'm glad you're checking the inside because we're always checking the outside. >> if he starts showing symptoms, then we're way too late in finding problems. >> the doctors have told the binghams that gage too will likely need a heart transplant one day. sierra was about gage's age when she had her first heart transplant. and now that she's 15 she has a say in her own health care, can even say no if she decides she doesn't want a second transplant. she's asked her parents not to keep any secrets from her about what's ahead, no matter how

scary. and scary it certainly is. a nurse educates the binghams about transplantation. much has changed even since lindsey's heart transplant two years earlier. sierra stays quiet. but takes never word. >> i go in the middle of the night keep checking to see if she has a pulse because she's going to die in the middle of the night. i get scared to death that she won't be there in the morning. >> your concerns are valid. you're her father and you want her there every morning when you wake up. the reality, though, is we don't have a crystal ball for anyone. >> in the nine years since sierra's first transplant doctors have learned a great deal more about the immune system. but fighting rejection without killing the immune system completely is a delicate balance. >> the immune system, the more time it spends responding to something foreign like an infection or somebody else's heart, learns how to attack that heart. the more time you spend with a

transplanted heart, the more time your immune system learns how to attack it. >> we'd like to know where we're at with genetic testing, just if there's any answers of why three kids with heart failure and the parents are just fine. we still don't have an answer, is there something in our water, something in our house, something we did. >> yeah, there's absolutely nothing you did. okay? 100%. it is very mysterious that you have multiple children in one family with a gene problem that neither of their parents have and none of their cousins have. and i know you have like 30 cousins or something. yeah. it's very unusual. we haven't gotten to the bottom of it. i'm not sure we have, or we will. >> reporter: whatever the cause, sierra's condition deteriorates quickly. and soon she and stacy are back in palo alto to wait close to the hospital for a donor heart. they've been told the wait could be as long as two years because devices like artificial hearts keep sick patients alive longer, meaning there are more people waiting and in fact there are more kids waiting for heart

transplants in the u.s. now than there have ever been. more than 600. >> we really have more or less the same number of heart donors for an increasing number of kids who need them. so i think the real success in getting more kids to survive to transplant really in many ways is getting more people to donate. sierra needs to find a good match and she needs to find it relatively soon. >> trying to keep life as normal as possible under this family's extraordinary circumstances, sierra attends prom at the hospital with another patient. and then out of the blue the binghams receive an e-mail from the grandmother of sierra's first donor, a woman who saw our first report on the binghams back in 2013 and had a feeling that was her grandson's heart that saved sierra. and when she looked up the binghams' blog she saw a photo of that quilt square sierra had made in honor of her donor. there on the square was sierra's donor's name, nicholas.

that was her grandson. now she has learned that nicholas's heart, beating in sierra's chest, is failing. and she and her family including nicholas's brother and sister, want to meet sierra. they meet in a park not far from the hospital. >> this is sierra. >> hi, sierra. >> how are you? >> sierra brings a stethoscope so they can listen to nicholas's heart one last time. nicholas's big sister is overwhelmed. stacy tells the family that sierra's first reaction when she learned she'd need a new heart was guilt, that she couldn't keep nicholas's heart alive longer. >> just something that happens. but i do want you to know th that -- the nine years she's had it.

>> so tell us about nicholas. >> well. >> the binghams had assumed nicholas died in an accident. but now they learned the horrifying truth. nicholas was murdered by his stepfather. his organs went to sierra and two other children. >> it's been easier on us knowing that he was able to help three other -- three people, not just sierra. so that's helped us a lot. >> they take pictures together, this unlikely blended family. while sierra looks relatively well and isn't hospitalized, she's growing sicker by the day and doctors are running out of options. three weeks pass, and then there's news. (hard exhalation)

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jason and stacy bingham are waiting for a third heart transplant in their young family due to a deadly genetic disease called dilated cardiomyopathy. lindsey received a donor heart in 2013 and is thriving. >> yeah, right there. that's perfect. symbol but her older sister sierra is not. at the age of 15 the donor heart that has kept her alive for almost nine years is failing more rapidly than anyone anticipated. the doctors are running out of options. sierra and her parents have been told the wait for a donor heart could be as long as two years. >> i was getting nervous. i was really getting nervous. how close to death's door are we going to be knocking before something comes available? >> her younger sister lindsey had waited eight months for her

donor heart, but just three weeks after going on the transplant list out of the blue came the call. a heart was available for sierra. >> megan was in the bed next to me, and he she was like sierra, i think you got your heart. and i was kind of excited but then i was really, really scared. so i was just like, i just want to go to sleep. >> jason can't help but reflect on the family that donated sierra's first transplanted heart. about to be replaced by a second. >> those parents are the true heroes of this whole thing. they were the ones that decided in a horrible tragedy that we heard about, they had the ability to allow their child's organs to be donated. >> before she goes in for her second transplant, a reminder that in spite of her medical condition sierra is a regular teenager. a surprise visit from an admirer. >> boy, i've seen this hall before, haven't we? >> minutes later, more good-byes outside the o.r. doors they've

been to before and will be again. gage for now is stable but has the same disease and will one day need a transplant too. >> love you too, gage. >> for jason and stacy another long night of waiting and worrying. he sierra is placed on a heart-lung bypass machine to keep her alive as her failing heart is removed. and then the donor heart arrives. doctors inspect the donor heart to make sure there are no surprises. it looks perfect. implantation begins. they carefully attach each artery and the aorta. as soon as surgeons allow blood to fill the chambers, sierra's new heart starts beating on its own. surgeon ma yeda goes to jason and stacy. >> oh, you're asleep. yeah. it's a long night.

>> yeah. >> yes. so have a seat. so everything went well, very smoothly. >> sierra has been given a fresh start for a second time in her young life. her recovery goes unbelievably smoothly. >> we're out of here. we're heading home, baby. >> sierra is released from the hospital in record time, after just eight days. she's already thinking about what she'll do with this next chapter. >> just doing the little simple things in life, like going to the beach, hanging out with friends, going to church and stuff. >> she and stacy plan to spend a brief stint at the nearby ronald mcdonald house and then surprise the rest of the family by returning home a week earlier than expected. but another shoe was about to drop. a doctor has asked to speak to stacy. >> your heart just sinks a little bit, like why? it's not to invite us to a

barbecue. >> in checking gage's pacemaker, doctors have discovered gage has had two episodes in the night where his heart flutters rather than beats. either one of them could have been fatal. his heart failure is worsening. and so in addition to the pacemaker he already has he'll need to have a defibrillator implanted to shock his heart back into rhythm if it flutters again. >> we've seen what happens. and maybe we know too much. >> yeah. >> i'm ready to go home a little bit and not stay here for a year or two. as good as he's doing, i've just got to prepare myself that things could change. so. >> jason and stacy have had no time to recover from sierra's transplant, no time to recharge before this next crisis. they're emotionally exhausted. >> give him a good kiss. this is a good time.

>> be brave. okay, bud? >> surgeons have warned jason and stacy there's a chance gage could come out of surgery on an artificial heart pump. just about like the one lindsey was on. it would mean he could not leave the hospital until a donor heart could be found. >> to think that he walked in here a happy little kid with this little bear and to think that he might come out or we could get the call any second now that they're having to put him on a heart device, it's pretty hard. >> and we know gage's course is going down those same roads that his sister did. but it's hard to see, see how far is he going to go before he has to play that same course, see him get so sick. that's what's so wrenching. you can't do anything as a

parent but comfort. and it's really hard to watch that deterioration. that's what i struggle with the very most. >> the binghams are extremely optimistic and upbeat people, but that is to take a tremendous amount of stress and discomfort with a tremendous amount of grace. however, i think between lindsey's transplant and sierra's second transplant and now this, i think the mounting stress of all the medical needs of their children is really building up. i think the family is in the process of really getting accustomed to the idea that their children's cardiac disease is something they're going to have to be dealing with really for the remainder of their lives. >> the surgeons believe the defibrillator will be enough to sustain gage, no heart pump necessary, at least for now. they hope this will buy the binghams one to three years before he'll need a transplant.

>> you did great. >> he's got a mask on and a hat. when you went into surgery. he was there with you the whole time. >> gage bounces back quickly, and just two weeks after his surgery and two months after sierra's transplant the binghams get to go home. >> wow. these are pretty. >> hunter and megan have remained healthy, have no symptoms of the disease that's attacking their siblings, though it could strike later in life. lindsey, gage, and sierra are happy to see their dog axelrod, who they've named after one of their favorite doctors. >> it feels really good to be home. like i didn't realize how big our heart was. >> sierra's face is swollen from the steroids she's taking to

prevent rejection of her new heart. >> even just doing those things that seem so mundane, taking them to practices and games, i think that's the thing that i miss the most, is just all of us being together and being there to support each other and just being normal, i guess, living life. >> they cherish every moment of it, knowing that at some point in the next few years they'll be back in palo alto for another long and arduous journey with two children with transplanted hearts, a third headed down that same road. the binghams are well aware that life could change in a heartbeat. what they didn't know was how soon that would happen.

the hardware inside gage bingham's tiny chest regulates the beat of his heart but can't stop the progression of his heart disease, which is happening much faster than anyone anticipated. jason and stacy see his condition worsening by the day. >> we had to run a couple of yards to get to the bus and this particular morning the kids were late. most mornings. all the other kids ran to catch the bus. the bus sat there and waited and he walked the entire way over. and it just broke our heart to see him just walking, knowing

that he needs to run, they're waiting for him, but he just couldn't do it. so you could see the heart failure starting to set in. we just didn't realize it was going to happen as fast as it did. >> gage always shook his head "no" when his parents gently told him he'd one day need a transplant. but then one night, tired and having just thrown up, gage knew it was time. >> he goes, "you're right, mom." i'm right? what about? he goes, "i do need a heart. it's time." i think in his way he was accepting the reality of it. it was heart-wrenching. >> and so just three months after his last open heart surgery gage is back at lucille packard children's hospital. gage's heart is no longer pumping well enough to sustain him. the same path lindsey went down when she was his age. >> could i just have your autograph? >> he's asked if it's okay for

doctors to remove a small piece of his heart so they can study what's causing his and his siblings' heart disease. >> i'm going to stay right here till they tell me i can't. okay? >> and then it's yet another good-bye outside the o.r. doors. a place the binghams know all too well. >> be brave. okay? you're a brave boy. >> be right here. >> all right. right here. >> right here, bud. >> gage's teddy bear woody goes in with him. >> the world we knew two weeks ago is completely gone. and that's the talk i had with him. while stacy -- they got life-flighted out. had all four kids by the fireplace. i said you guys, we've got to understand it's not the like it was anymore. we've got to put on our big boy pants and face a new reality here. >> it's like we can't catch our breath and like it's taking up our life like our whole life is just about this heart problem, this heart disease, and it's

like we just can't be normal for once. >> we don't know what we're doing. we're just winging it. let's be honest here. we're just winging it. >> jason and stacy have been warned that gage could come out of surgery with two artificial heart pumps, one to support each side of his failing heart. the surgeons will make the call when they see the condition of his heart during the operation. stacy finds some comfort in the memories of their all too brief time at home together between the surgeries. >> even though we got to go home for maybe two months, it was just two months we could just treasure every day, and i guarantee we treasured every day. >> surgeons implant the device called heartware to support the left side of gage's heart. >> this is the part that's going inside the heart, and then basically there is a rotor inside this device. and then basically this device suck the blood from inside of

the heart, and then this is connected all the way to the ascending aorta. >> they see that the right side of gage's heart is pumping sufficiently, but they leave the defibrillator in to shock it if it goes out of rhythm again. >> here he comes. >> gage's recovery goes smoothly, and soon he's back on his feet, even ice skating. the good news is the equipment that's keeping him alive is far more portable than lindsey's was. he can carry the pump and batteries on his back. remember, lindsey wasn't allowed to leave the hospital and she waited nearly nine months for a donor heart. but even with his more portable equipment the binghams are told they can't go home. >> are those clean, gage? all that stuff's clean? >> no. >> gage is at risk of blood clots and other complications. if something goes wrong, he'd be too far away, home in eastern oregon. and so they settle in again near the hospital and wait. a heart could come tomorrow or a

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as the saying goes, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. no one knows that better than the bingham family. now waiting for their fourth heart transplant, this time for their youngest child, 7-year-old gage. >> can you just lay back here? >> the binghams are grateful to the ronald mcdonald house in palo alto for their room near the hospital. they couldn't possibly afford to rent a house here in the heart of silicon valley.

rents run from $6,000 to $10,000 a month. but packing seven people into one room and two beds is a challenge. especially now that their three daughters are all teenagers. >> teenagers, we like to have our space, and it's hard to do that when everybody sleeps in the same room and it's -- yes, it's very difficult at times. >> sierra is driving, works in an ice cream parlor. lindsey is in seventh grade now. it's been nearly five years since she received her donor heart. >> i'm feeling great. >> and gage is, well, gage. the family clown happy to show off his fancy equipment. >> it goes up. you can feel it under my ribs. and then comes right here. that's why the scar is right here. so i hope you learned much and have a great day.

>> hunter and megan have both remained healthy. hunter has settled into life in palo alto, but megan struggles. she wants to go home to eastern oregon, where she's a varsity athlete and has close friends. jason and stacy make the difficult decision to let her stay with family there while stacy and the other four kids stay in palo alto for what they hope won't be a long wait for a donor heart. jason, now a partner in his father's accounting firm, will live with one foot in oregon and one in california, regularly making the 13-hour drive each way. >> we really have it good, no matter how bad we think we have it. there's still some -- there's a lot of good out there. it's hard for me to say that when i'm sitting out here by myself and my family's in california. i want them to come home. i've cried many tears wishing they'd come home. >> at home jason's to-do list is very long. office work, helping on the

ranch, gardening, canning the pear crop with megan, or trying. >> what's the syrup thing? >> jason is clueless. and megan? it's an adjustment. >> megan's going to be staying with my brother. and last night we had one of those rules things. you know, kind of getting lined out. they're the parents. >> it feels really weird especially like last night how they were talking about checking in my phone, you know, and how i'm pretty much just like moving in. >> you got your medicine? >> back in california stacy is mother to four and nurse to gage. there are regular dressing changes, battery changes, gage's feeding tube, multiple medications to remember for three children, a constant level of worry. because stacy is a registered nurse, doctors have allowed gage to attend a public school in palo alto with stacy nearby in case something goes wrong with

the pump or gage shows symptoms that something's wrong. >> look at me. >> this week gage has been named star student of his class. >> i live in oregon, which is far away. >> those items on the table are gage's treasures, his ninja turtle, his teddy bear woody, and his old backpack, the one he wore before he was placed on an artificial heart pump. >> we all are getting a special lesson by being in class with gage and his mom stacy. they come in with the best attitude. it's awesome. it just could not be better. would love for him to get a heart. >> but more months pass. gage reaches one year on an artificial heart. >> it's sharing time. >> many of the medical staff at lucille packard children's hospital have known gage's family his entire life, have become their extended family. they celebrate this milestone with a party in the hospital.

lindsey is happy to see the doctors and nurses who took care of her when she was on an artificial heart five years before. gage, his big brother hunter, and jason have all been letting their hair grow until he gets his transplant. an all for one sort of gesture. but this long? they never imagined. >> it was crazy hair day. hunter did ponytails right here, right here. all over. hunter had the craziest hair. >> when stacy can't be here, dad's got to pick up the slack. >> back at home in eastern oregon megan struggles with the reality of it all. >> hardest part is worrying all the time. every time i get a text or a phone call i just always like jump to conclusions and think of the worst. >> for now sierra, lindsey, and gage are all doing well. in fact, gage is doing so well jason and stacy beg his doctors to let him go home for just a

few days for thanksgiving. they need a boost. and megan needs her family. a volunteer pilot agrees to stand by in case a donor heart becomes available. once a donor heart has been removed from the donor, it can only survive outside the body for about six hours. getting gage back in time is critical to the doctor's decision. thanksgiving morning. sierra happily braves the cold to help her grandfather feed cows. it's a different life than the one she knows in palo alto. >> it feels almost like a little vacation. >> hunter feels the impact of their time away from home. >> you can tell everybody's like grown onto us not being here. it's weird because we've grown more distant. >> and gage? >> how does it feel to be out here? >> very good. actually. >> what do you like about it?

just being home or just like being in the wide open space? >> space. >> space? >> yeah. and our big house. and axelrod. >> yeah. >> jason's parents, who live next door, join the family for a special thanksgiving meal. >> this is our second meal all together. >> yeah. in one day. >> after dinner gage explains what his artificial heart, or v.a.d., for ventricular assist device, feels like. >> you know those gas stations where the gas runs? it's like mmmm. it's just like that. but it's like mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. >> as you can see, it doesn't slow him down much. >> i'm sure gage would love us to act as normal as we can around him. but then i'm sure he doesn't

want to get his feeding tube pulled out or anything. so we still have to be a little safe around him but not really. >> and then it's time for homework. an interview with his grandfather. one of the questions? what did he like to do when he was gage's age? >> because i was 8 i could go hunting deer. so put hunt deer. >> some days i wished i can go hunting. >> you can. >> out in the mountains. >> you will. we missed you this year. you will. >> when are you going to do it again? >> next year. so it will be just right because you'll get your heart and you'll be all out of the hospital and everything will be good and you'll be going hunting with us next year. >> and now that we did thanksgiving, we'll see what christmas brings. >> and four more months pass. early this past april gage continues to thrive. jason and stacy convince the doctors to let them go home once

more to attend a fund-raiser, a 5k run organized by a young woman from their church. even with insurance jason estimates they spend $30,000 a year on medications and travel back and forth between their home in eastern oregon and the hospital in northern california. >> we've had some very generous people with some amazing generous people that have helped us with some fund-raisers that make us keep going. if not we would be broke. we would be absolutely broke. i'm not joking. >> gage greeted runners at the finish line. and two days later, just before midnight, a phone call. >> it's 12:00 midnight on tuesday. and we just got the call that gage has a heart. >> how are you feeling? >> i don't know. i'm excited but nervous. >> a little confused? >> i want to make sure it's a good thing. >> what do you think, lindsey? >> i'm so confused. (hard exhalation)

honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a medicine that was proven, in the largest heart failure study ever, to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ when can we do this again, grandpa? well, how about tomorrow? ask your doctor about entresto and help make tomorrow possible.

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hi. i'm richard lui with your hour's top stories. "time" magazine responding to president trump's tweet that he passed on being named the publication's person of the year. tweeting this. "the president is incorrect about how we choose person of the year. time does not comment on our choice until publication. that's december 6." the house taking on sexual misconduct on capitol hill. a vote expected this week on a measure requiring anti-harassment and discrimination training for all members and their staffs. for now back to "heartbreak: saving the binghams." . gage, i need you to wake up for a minute. i've got something really important to tell you. >> just before midnight april 3rd jason and stacy bingham receive the call they've been waiting for for 511 days. >> we just got the call. you have a heart.

>> you got a heart! >> a donor heart is available for their youngest son, gage. a volunteer pilot flies stacy, gage, lindsey, and hunter to the hospital in palo alto, and jason and the girls drive through the night and half the next day to be there. surgery is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. >> do you understand? i just want to make sure you understand. >> yes. >> you're going to be asleep. you're going to go downstairs, and you'll be asleep and you won't remember a thing. and when you wake up you'll be like, when am i going to get my transplant? we'll be like gage, you already did. do you have any other questions? >> what will the heart look like? >> it will look healthier than your heart. it will look beautiful. >> at the age of just 8 this will be gage's fourth open heart surgery. he is understandably nervous. >> do you know when you get your

new heart and you start feeling better that your stomach's not going to hurt anymore and you'll actually like eating? and then i'll be like i can't keep up with what you want to eat. i can't keep making all this stuff. >> the more time that passes, the more nervous gage gets. and now the surgery has been delayed. >> we had some delay in the organ recovery process. there's no concern with the organ, but we have to coordinate many teams to go out there. so they've delayed us by about half a day. we originally thought we were going to go to the o.r. at around 3:00 p.m. but it's looking more like 3:00 a.m. right now. >> so where do you get the heart? >> we get it from someone who's healthy who has a healthy heart who wants to give it to you. we send a team of doctors.

they fly on a private plane. they go to another hospital. they look at the heart. they make sure it looks perfect before we decide if we want to open you back up again and put it in. because we're not going to risk putting in something that doesn't look good to put you through a big operation like that. we want you to have the best chance you can to have a good recovery and to feel better. >> no sick hearts. >> oh, yeah. no sick hearts. we don't want that. >> he already got one. >> what else? >> i hope this will go well. >> it's going to go well. we'll do everything we can to make sure it goes well. >> trying to keep gage calm or at least distracted, stacy sets up a barber chair in gage's room. >> i don't even now how it began. >> she can't wait to cut the hair that the boys and jason decided to let grow until gage got his transplant. they started more than a year and a half before. when gage received his artificial heart. >> holy smokes. what happened to your head?

>> jason, sierra, and megan arrive just in time to watch. gage has been doing so well on the vent ri ventricular assist they wondered whether he could skip the difficulty of having a heart trands plant and the potential complications that come with it and live with the artificial pump for the rest of his life. but their team of doctors told them there are too many risks. at 3:00 the next morning it's time, and gage is terrified. >> you waited how many days? >> the other kids rally around their little brother, say their good-byes in this space outside the operating room they've been so many times before. gage is so frightened, doctors allow stacy to go into the operating room with him, try to keep him calm.

finally, the anesthesia takes hold and he's prepped for surgery. >> how scared he was going in there and petrified that he was not going to live through it, i just -- it just made me very nervous. >> stacy puts on her game face. but she is as worried as gage is. to ibuprofen. and i had fallen asleep... (scrappy barks) (amanda) he was totally freaked out, digging and pawing at me. and when i woke up i realized that i was in anaphylaxis and went to the emergency room. i don't know what i would do if he wasn't there. he's the best boy. (vo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped the ascpa save nearly forty thousand animals so far. get a new subaru and we'll donate two hundred fifty dollars more to help those in need. (amanda) ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪ eight hundred dollars when wet switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey. oh. that's my robe.

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he was so scared. >> this hospital holloway has become familiar territory to jason and stacey bingl. now in the middle of the night they're catching the rest they can as gage undergoes a heart transplant. nurses who have known the family for years stop by to offer encouragement. >> we have to go down there. pam is going to tell us what's going on. >> gage is placed on a

heart/lung bypass machine and is disconnected from the backpack he's been carrying. then surgeons carefully remove his failing heart along with the artificial heart pump. all the hardware inside his chest makes his transplant even more complicated. while they wait for updates on gage, sierra and lindsey reminisce about their own heart transplants. >> i remember gage sitting up there with me. >> i remember you guying good-bye. that's it. >> doctors inspect the donor heart. it looks perfect. >> the heart is going in. looking good. i thought i'd come say hi. looks really good. >> good. >> over the next four hours surgeons carefully stitch the donor heart into place. >> we're all done, then. things went very well. no problems going in. you know, measurably, anyway.

>> a new heart, it's working very well. >> the bingham's fourth heart transplant and eighth open heart surgery is behind them. >> i hope this is the last time. >> yeah. >> jason, stacey and the older kids promised gage they'd be there when he woke up from surgery. >> you did it. you got your brand new heart. >> stacey hasn't tasted sugar in 512 days. a sacrifice she made as gage waited for a heart. now she's brought a treat to celebrate. on the count of three. >> one, two, three. boy, how i missed you. now go buy me some sweat pants. >> lindsey and meghan don't want

to leave gage's side. doctors still don't know the genetic cause of the heart failure. they are enrolled in a study at stanford to decode the mystery ri. the day after his transplant, others go in for tests. and the story goes on. >> you're doing great, dude. after his surgery, gage suffers several life threatens setbacks. a seizure, signs of acute rejection that shut down his kidneys, send him back to intensive care. but he survives. survives it all. and past the crisis, recovers quickly. the only sign of his earlier recovery is the puffiness in his face by the steroids to fight rejection. he's well enough to attend his last day of school. his last chance to be with his second grade classmates before he returns home to oregon.

his only backpack now is for school supplies. before saying their good-byes, the kids and teachers share appreciations. >> what i've appreciated the most this year is the amount of hope we all had for so many things. but once we met one of our class mates, we all, all of us, were so hopeful that we would get a heart, and he did. >> and then it's gage's turn. >> i appreciate that we had the best teacher in second grade, and making new friends. >> and finally in early july, they are home. all of them, at last. >> what do you really miss about home? >> this. this is what we with miss. >> perhaps no one is more

grateful than meghan who has been apart from the rest of her family far too long. >> now that we're all here and together, it's like we never left. >> and sierra? >> we were whole again. that puzzle piece, all the missing puzzle pieces were together. >> they've all changed in what they expected to be. sierra home now and no longer in survival mode is hoping to become a pediatric nurse. >> here we can actually spread out. we can make plans, set them in stone. we live here, and it's just really nice to be here. >> hunter has learned something about himself. >> i just feel like i get really used to places. i can make friends really quickly, but just finding out where i want to be and which group i want to be in is pretty hard for me, because i only found that out on the last day

of school. >> meghan has learned to appreciate the things most of us take for granted. >> it's really nice to have everybody back and we can kind of be whole. have mom back to being mom and all others take their place, and we can just do family stuff. it's really nice. >> gage now has a healthy appetite and much more energy. >> i feel like i can flip over. >> and instead of feeling the whir of an artificial heart pump, something he hadn't felt in nearly a year and a half, a beating heart. >> and lindsey, has her family's experience changed her? >> there's more sass in me. >> though. >> i think it's crazy how this actually happens and stuff, but i know that my parents can do it, and i believe in them, but i know how scary it is for them to go through it.

and i just can't imagine going through it by myself. >> and finally home again, jason and stacey are surprised by an emotion they did not expect. sadness. over leaving behind the friends they'd grown to know so well over so much time in palo alto. people who have been with them every step of the way. >> even though we wanted so bad to leave, it's like we want to go home. how much longer can this last? and then when you go to leave, you reflect, and you realize what -- what a wonderful place, and even though it wasn't an ideal memory, we have a lot of really positive memories and some new friends. it was an emotion i wasn't ready for, because i was so excited to come home. but when you reflect back on the last two years and how our kids' lives were impacted, it was a little shocking. it wasn't expecting that.

but it's pretty neat. >> say si and jason celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary facing challenges that would have ended some marriages has only made theirs stronger, which perhaps has to do with a trait we've witnessed again and again since we've known them. a sense of gratitude, for things like the medical treatments, and for the little things. >> i'm so excited for this week coming up. we have absolutely nothing going on. we can just be together doing what we would normally be doing, cleaning the house, laundry, mailing, farming, whatever. i can't tell you how much i missed it. and so we'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts until next time. but for however long, we'll treasure every day.

>> her name is pepper. >> i lived a secret life. >> she was kidnapped at age four. >> we got in the car, and we never went back. >> she spent deck kaeades tryin kind her way home again, and she finally made it, or so she thought. >> i said i'm rhonda christy, or do you know he