have plenty of opportunities in their lives. they will have each other but they may not have me. they may not have their dad. will you be there dad? >> reporter: sick, scared and worried, bruce wrote that letter to six lifelong friends, men who knew his voice, who could be fathers for his daughters. he decided to call them the council of dads. by late july, weeks after his cancer diagnosis, bruce took the letter 200 miles north to vermonts the home of his childhood friend, jeff. >> he said to me, i want to find some time to spend alone with you. >> reporter: nothing could have prepared him for what bruce was about to ask. >> of course, without skipping a