take josh hardy, an 8-year-old whose battled kidney cancer since a baby.a viral infection earlier this year after having a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer and couldn't get access to the experimental medicine his doctors thought could help him. his family and supporters start add social media campaign that went viral including a petition on change.org that garnered almost 20,000 signatures. the company ultimately start add new clinical trial and enrolled josh as the first patient. they said josh's story helped accelerate discussions with the fda, and josh isn't alone. last year there were 21 campaigns on change.org for compassionate use. garnering an average of 275,000 signatures each, and that's grown steadily over the last five years. already this year, 17 compassionate use petitions attracted an average of almost 400,000 signatures each. facebook, twitter and youtube also have proven to be powerful tools but the public pressure doesn't always work. in fact, josh is an exception. some experts say social media is create inequities. >> the proble

it's rare that we've seen it happen but there was a case, josh hardy was a seven-year-old boy, an eight-year-old boy now was asking for an experimental drug from a company, and they had a really strong social media campaign and that's another element to the story. patients are getting a stronger voice through social media. >> social pressure on the companies. >> that helped them reach an agreement to start a new clinical trial. they enrolled josh as the first patient. there are ethical considerations here. there are a lot of other patients that asked for the drug and didn't get it before. there are questions of inequity in the system. >> there is reasons a company might say no, not enough supply to supply to the clinical trial. do the -- what are some of the other reasons and do the companies have to tell you why they rejected your request? >> there aren't a lot of guidelines how to communicate. that's an issue in the system people tell me, the other reasons they say no, it's about getting drugs to market for the broadest population of patients, as fast as possible and the companies say you have

we focused on josh hardy and his ability finally to get the drug that he needed that could help savechild. what advice would you give to mothers and fathers and family members as they try and save their children that may have a pediatric cancer for which there is no approved drug? >> it's a terrible problem, peter. i think what we really need to do as a society, one is fix the compassionate use program. there is some structural problems in it. and second, we have to find ways to encourage or acquire companies to offer pediatric trials of new drugs earlier. >> well, as a pediatric cancer survivor, nancy, i thank you for what you've done. you've really created history and provide an incentive for drug manufacturers to help our youngest and most vulnerable population. nancy goodman, thanks so much for doing what you've done. >> thank you, peter. >>> coming up, three huge storms, including two hurricanes threatening beach goers across the country. maria molina with what you need to know. >>> and then we showed you how kids react to finding guns in their play area. is this happening when