to stockholm, sweden to the doctor who would save his life. >> they did find more cancer cells. they cut all of that out. i still would have cancer and probably more than likely it would have came back and more aggressive, then they wouldn't be able to treat me oar are at 38 -- >> reporter: at 38 he learned he had a rare form of trachea cancer. in this country it was ruled inoperable. but he underwent the surgery in europe. the ongoing debate forced him to go abroad top find it. >> they can do the surgery here. everything that was involved in my surgery came from the united states. the by owe reactor came from

harford. the actual trachea came from ohio. >> they're using the own stem cells to cure yourself. if we can't do that, we're not cloning somebody. >> reporter: they're still awaiting the final bill but initial estimates that chris' surgery and six weeks of recovery would cost in excess of half a million dollars. >> my family used their life savings. we spent over a couple hundred thousands just my family alone. right now i'm cancer free. so it's a second chance at life. >> a grass roots organization that helps raise money is helping his cause. to help, find a link on our website. you can feinted story under -- find the story under local hospitals. well, the sun has dropped

below the horizon. later tonight the warm temperatures will drop as well. after a gray and rainy morning, what should we expect. abc2 news meteorologist wyatt everhart has a look at the forecast. still a chance for a hit or miss shower. most of it is moving south of us, central virginia toward richmond. other than a stray shower or two, not much new rain, but we will feel the wind out of the southwest. it's 15 to 20 sustained and gusting to 28 in regan -- reagan. a few showers, quite breezy. tomorrow will be much cooler again. we'll talk about that, our next storm and when this warms up yet again. it's all coming up. this has been four days since an italian crouse ship ran

aground off the coast of tuscany but rescuers are looking for 20 people. the number known dead is at 11. meanwhile, the captain of the ship was released from jail to be con fined under house arrest. we have more and a new tape that reveals a phone call. >> reporter: after blasting their way in rescue workers found five more bodies in the lower decks. about two dozen passengerrings are missing. among them a 5-year-old girl and her father and retirees jerry and barbara heil of minnesota. those who survived talked of chaos. >> we kept going to life boats and they were already full and people were pushing, shoving and screaming. there were some jumping on the

life boat even though it was full. >> reporter: while helicopters were taking these infrared pictures of passengers climbing down the ship the cap ten was reportedly off. in a heated phone call rescuers ordered him to go back. schettino you may have saved your save from the sea but get back onboard. the officer shot back there are no please. get back onboard. the captain appeared before an italian judge who ordered him held without board. the captain insists he hit an unmarked rock but steered the ship. hope is fading at finding survivors. there appears to be an echo logical disaster with fuel onboard and rough weather coming in. newlyweds megan and robin morris were on the ship.

they're back home in pennsylvania. they were just three hours into their honeymoon when the ship became disabled. though said they were not told there was something wrong quick enough and were lied about the cause. >> you could not see any crew members, nobody. there was nobody to be found. everybody was running for their own safely obviously, because you want to get off the boat. >> the evacuation procedure work -- if the evacuation red your worked properly, i don't believe six would be dead. >> the company said the evacuation procedures worked and they were completed within two hours. the parents of 12 girls who have all come down with a mysterious illness say they are not getting answers. all attend the same high school in new york and have developed various levels of something their parents describe as a tick disorder. officials at the school ruled

out drugs and environmental factors. they have a diagnosis but can't say what it is. >> if my daughter had a diagnosis, i would tell you that. because i'm not a doctor. i care about getting these kids better. >> the parents said the 12 girls say they've seen multiple doctors and had to pull some of the kids out of school. >> police in kansas said an ex-nasa worker shot a mistress in the head three times and called her daughter to tell her what she had done. the couple had been going through counseling when he admitted to having an affair with another. what would you do with just a second to think and a complete stranger's life on the line. how one massachusetts man reacted when a woman lost control of her car and ended up

on his lawn and on fire. they can be negative and inaccurate and they're flooding the air waives -- airwaves.

we have new video tonight of storms near the missouri kansas border. check out the lightning. a spectacular show from mother nature. this storm system produced quarter size hail and wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. fire officials in fort wayne, indiana, are trying to figure out what happened when a house exploded. the fire spread to two neighboring homes before firefighters could put it out. no one was injured but fire officials think a broken gas line may have started the fire. a massachusetts man who was minding his own business doing some yard work is being called a hero tonight. an 87-year-old woman lost control of her car and it came to rest in his yard before this burst into flames. she was trapped inside. he broke her back window and managed to get the door open and

pulled her out to safety. amazing. this has health benefits. for whatever the reason we can't get enough of it. how americans have become the biggest wine lovers in the world. >> we'll tell you what fast food giant may be delivering to your front door in the near future. hello! honey?

who's she? downy unstopables. here to shake up your fresh. like a cheerleader on espresso. toss these little scent boosters in before you wash. and the fresh scent will last until you're ready to wash again. [ buzzer ] [ laughs ] [ both sniff ]

and this fresh scent will last? it's like you shoved a rainbow up your nose. i should go. downy unstopables. the fresh too feisty to quit. maybe if you add it all up, americans consume the most wine of any country -- consumed the most wine of any country in 2011. >> reporter: 3.7 million bottles

were consumed. a report from wine and spirit research puts the u.s. at the top of the list calculated by volume topping the so-called wine drinking countries. america is leading in retail sales. italy still loves it coming in second followed by france and germany. china is breaking into the top five for the first time. it's important to know the u.s. is much larger than those countries in europe so our consumption per person is not as high. it could be viewed as a sign that the economy is improving. during the great recession the u.s. saw beer signs decline. a trend of drinking more wine looks like it will continue. the forecast is a 10% increase over the next four years in the u.s. cheers to that.

reporting from new york. unconfirmed reports. you help the cause a little bit, right? >> got to help the economy. take a look at maryland's most powerful radar. only really active weather we're picking up is further south and down towards orange and culpepper. if we look at the motion on this shower, it is to the south and southeast. this will clip south of d.c. i don't think we see rain from that line. right now current conditions are not so bad for january. temperatures 57, below 60 as the sun continues to set out there. we still have dusk. i want to skip ahead to our statewide temperatures. you can see here the numbers,

pretty nice. 55 in win chester. nearly 60 in d.c. nearly 60 down at the beach. how's that for mid-january, not so bad. what are the players in this. a steady southwest wind has pushed up some much milder and humid air and also we've seen some gust up around 25 to 30. 24 baltimore. and over 33 at the -- 30 at the beach. no wind chill factor. there's highs today successfully hitting 60 and these numbers about 20 degrees above our normal. normally we would be close to 40. today we were up to 60. all right. tomorrow we'll drop it back to normal. 38 in reisterstown. these temperatures set to drop as the winds turn northwesterly. we'll get a cold front. as we take a look at the

mid-atlantic states, clouds for baltimore, rain for virginia. i don't see much precipitation making its way in. we could see a few stray showers. the main system is over ohio. the cool air will funnel in behind the system, really dropping our numbers tomorrow. for a few hours we'll be in the nice air flow. if you're taking the dog out for a walk, it will be nice and mild. come morning you'll feel the difference and through the day temperatures struggle to get out of the 30s. cloud cover will diminish. chances for rain go away and through the day tomorrow a crystal clear finish but breezy winds from the north. thursday we cloud back up, so i think we're dry and it will be a chillier day than this was out there today. overnight down to 37 with some gusty winds. turning colder late past midnight.

tomorrow two-degree guarantee, 40. it will be windy but a different kind of a wind a cold wind out of the northwest. tomorrow night down to 24. als the winds diminish, seasonably cold. and the seven-day forecast, i will say this, we had to modify this. there's been a change in the pattern friday into saturday. it appears we won't warm up until sunday. the first half of the week could feature rain and a wintry mix scenario. we'll keep you posted on that. >> it seems like a ping pong. >> it has been an unusual january. most people don't mind these mild streaks we're getting. let's shift gears and talk about politics. one of the big things from last

night's debate, the role of super pacs. this is definitely a hot button issue throughout the night. >> reporter: the topic of super pacs came up quite a bit during the debate and caused heated exchanges between the candidates. those exchanges, by the way, are continuing today. >> governor romney. >> mit -- mitt. >> reporter: watching the debates -- >> bain swept in. they picked that company over and lot of people lost jobs. >> reporter: super pacs private groups running ads. >> it would be nice if he exercised leadership to take falsehoods off the air. >> mr. speak are you have a super pac ad that lay tacks me -- attacks me. it's probably the biggest hoax

since big foot. >> suggesting that i slotted to allow felons to vote from prison. >> reporter: candidates cannot coordinate with the super pacs. often times they are run by close associates. >> i'm stunned that mitt romney doesn't have the ability to be able to discern something that is blatantly false. >> reporter: romney meanwhile involves any involvement with the ads and is trying to move past this. >> people running for office -- how long have we had ads in this country and people being critical. rick santorum is very animated that the ad says he's in favor of felon voting. well, he is. >> reporter: another reason it's becoming a key issue is the fact that the super pac can raise an unlimited amount of money. in south carolina they've spent

$6 million and in the entire election, $26 million. >> let's get to florida and talk about the new poll that could seal the deal for mitt romney. >> reporter: this is a new poll. mitt romney has a lead of 17 points here. newt gingrich is the only other candidate in the double digits in the poll. everyone else single digits. they are saying mitt romney has such a lead, potentially he could take florida as well. >> all right. we'll see you tomorrow. south carolina welcomed the gop presidential hopefuls. showing up in myrtle beach it was sponsored by the chamber of commerce. it took five sculptures, sand and six days to finish it. they probably would have wished they had heart of jon huntsman jumping out before they finished

their work. the senate building in annapolis had a major water problem. today it was the scene of a major cleanup. why it will take a few more days before repairs can begin. do you note difference between having a cold or having the flu? not knowing could put you and your family in danger. those stories and more coming up all for you at 6:00. now here's a preview of what's ahead at 6:30. coming up on world news, millions of us work out, feel fit, the picture of health. what if you found a ticking time bomb inside your body. new technology. could this mean the end of illness? we'll show you how this works.

stocks are closing higher. the dow is up 60. the nasdaq is up 17. the s&p 500 up 4 1/2. we're already seeing high gas prices this month. the prices at the pumps could go higher and get close to $5 a gallon in some areas. the price is now $3.39, almost 30 crnts more than last year. by the summer gas could be up to $3.95. in chicago and new york it could hit $4..50. the average car is almost 11 years old. the age rose quickly as new sales have slowed down. old cars represent and opportunity for some businesses.

dealers and part suppliers are seeing more business. burger king trying out a new plan to let you have your way without leaving your house. the chain is testing home delivery at a few restaurants in the washington, d.c. area. if the testing goes well burger king will expand to 16 stores but there are no concrete plans just yet. burger king has developed new packaging technology to keep the burgers and fries warm. right now the restaurant is charging a $2 delivery fee. customers must live within 10 minutes of the restaurant to take part. apple and job's family put pressure on a toymaker to shell an idea. the doll would have fee occurred jobs' icon nick black turtle

neck, jeans and sneakers. jobs died in october after a long battle with cancer. could an annual tradition be history? why this year could mark the end of the mysterious visitor to the edgar allen poe tomb. those of you living in one ellicott city neighborhood, you were rudely awakened by an explosion. there was a major water problem in the senate building. i'll tell you about the repairs that they're doing today. terrell suggs receives the first of many honors voted on by people who really know the game. t