Transcripts For WPVI Good Morning America 20170920

And threatened to total a destroy north korea. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission. U. N. Ambassador nikki haley here live to respond. And violent hazing scandal. The College Football players turning themselves in facing felony charges accused of abducting, beating and abandoning their teammate leaving him severely injured. One of the accused the son of a former nfl star. The Major Investigation this morning. And good morning, america. We have two big breaking stories this morning. The death toll is climbing. From that massive earthquake in mexico. So much destruction and you see right there, the desperate Recovery Efforts continue right now. And millions in puerto rico are in the path of Hurricane Maria trying to find shelter from the deadly storm looking live at the hurricane right there slamming the island as we speak. It made landfall just moments ago as a category 4 storm. And the governor is warning it could be puerto ricos most catastrophic hurricane in nearly a century. Right on top of last week, our chief meteorologist ginger zee tracking it all. Good morning. Good morning, george. Category 4 hurricane, the first for puerto rico to make landfall earlier this morning since 1932 and now its sitting on that southeastern corner bringing those heavy winds, over 100 miles an hour and extreme wind warning for 115 plus Miles Per Hour including san juan and put on the gust at the last hour, 91 and that is where we find our Victor Oquendo. I will show you that track coming happens after there but we have to get to victor because the pictures coming out of puerto rico, amazing, victor. Reporter ginger, were down on the street level where conditions are just getting worse. The winds are so loud, so powerful and only getting stronger. If you can see behind me there is already a lot of debris covering the streets out here in the area of san juan where we are. This is a very popular tourist destination. There are a lot of tourists staying here at the hole tell thinking they were okay because Hurricane Irma passed by. They were not expecting maria to become what it is now. The big concern here, the wind damage and the storm surge. Especially for Certain Homes across the island. Puerto rico is filled with homes that were built, no code at all built illegally and those are the homes speaking with an engineering professor at a university here saying that those are the ones that are most at risk. Those are the ones that will be destroyed possibly washed away by the storm surge. A lot of hopes were built to a certain code built to withstand winds of 125 Miles Per Hour but thats like a category 2 hurricane. Maria obviously much stronger than that. Ginger just mentioned it. Puerto rico hasnt been tested by a storm this strong since 1932. The winds as i mentioned continue to pick up. Just look at that. Theres a piece of metal shielding out here. Looks like that came from some type of awning and only getting worse in this area. As far as the storm surge is concerned numberwise we could be looking at about 6 to 9 feet and the people who work here at the hotel, they tell us that its already worse here than when Hurricane Irma passed by, much worse at this point. Guy, im going to send it back to you for right now and go back to our safe spot. You better get inside. Senior meteorologist rob marciano in the storm zone in san juan. Lets get to him. Hurricane maria slamming puerto rico, the island now taking a direct hit. Infrastructure already weakened from irma. We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history. Reporter people scrambling to board up their hopes and make it to one of the 500 shelters open. The airport shutting down overnight. Were going to santo douming to get out of the storm. Reporter this group vacationing on a honeymoon taking cover in their hotel room as maria barrels over the island. We prepared. We have supplies. We thought about worst Case Scenario situations. Reporter ripping through the caribbean. Cant really see it but you can hear it. Reporter wreaking havoc on the virgin islands. Winds have picked up a lot. Reporter at its height a category 5 storm with winds of 175 Miles Per Hour. Im scared. Im really scared. Reporter st. Croix taking a pounding and people trying to ride out the storm there. John rhodes was there with Three Friends as maria moved in. Were in a solid threestory concrete structure. We moved into our second room. Our first room started to have a lot of water come in. Its very scary and the wind i think is over 105 miles an hour right now. Reporter the storm claiming one life in guadeloupe with more missing, 80,000 without power. Neighborhood streets now rivers. Dominica taking a direct hit. Communications nearly all cut off. Family members of a med student at Ross University trying desperately to reach out to the island still with no power. You want to know your loved ones are safe. Marco has been there since may. He is an awesome kid, and i just need to hear from him. Reporter first year med student mark joes parents said they havent heard from him since monday night. Tell me when to go. We are back on the northern side of san juan here. I can only imagine what went down when this thing made landfall on the southeast corner of this island. Obviously the eye getting closer and closer to us. That eye wall now scraping the northern beaches. These palm trees are just being tested to their limit. You can see barely see the surf behind me lew all this rain thats blowing sideways. It is just pounding this shoreline and coming up on some of the buildings here, the storm surge is actually really encroaching on this building here which is standing up fairly well. Its pretty impressive how this particular structure is built. Still communications, our signal has been going up and down and the very rossty of this wind right here. Not a whole lot of damage reports coming in yet, obviously, because of the communication but i assure you even as a category 4 they will be substantial. This is the strongest storm that this island has seen in over 80 years and the governor telling us this morning that 10,000 people roughly checked into shelters last night, which honestly seems like a low number considering how many people are evacuated out of the southeast corner of this island so hopefully people got to safe and strurd di structures like we are right now but theres debris flying around the city of san juan and really were just now getting into the tough stuff. We can see that, rob. We want you to get inside right now. You are way close to that balcony. Thanks for that report. Now back to ginger and our extreme Weather Center for new developments on Hurricane Marias track. He needs to get inside. We just saw a 113mileperhour gust in san juan itself and the eye not even there yet. The radar had the eye on it and radar went out. Thats the thing were seeing with this storm. As it keeps going to the north and east, you dont have to worry not just about storm surge and the wind but the rainfall. You can see up to 25 inches with flash flooding possible on the eastern side of puerto rico as it tracks north and east of the Dominican Republic theyll still get lashed with heavier winds and turks and caicos and it stays east of north carolina. We could see this interact with jose. Ill detail and what it could mean for us next week coming up. Okay, ginger, of course, well stay on Hurricane Maria all morning long but well turn to that devastating earthquake in mexico, the search on for survivors after that deadly cake struck about 75 miles southeast of mexico city. The 7. 1 magnitude quake skilling more than 200 people. Many are still missing this morning. Our Senior National correspondent matt gutman is there for us and has the latest. Good morning, matt. Reporter good morning, robin. That death toll continues to rise with each passing hour. We now know that there are at least 20 schoolchildren among the dead. Officials say they were trapped when their building pancaked on top of then and now in mexico city, the frantic effort to try to rescue those still living. This is what it looked like when the 7. 1 quake struck near mexico city. We just lost a building in mexico city. Reporter powerful enough to pancake Office Buildings and schools. At least 21 children and four teachers killed after an entire wing of an Elementary School collapsed. Rescue workers scrambling to find the missing. Overnight they clawed at the wreckage some with bare hands. The injured hauled away on stretchers, even in the arms of first responders. And that shaking lasted four agonizing minutes. It got more intense and really started shaking. Reporter inside this newsroom the walls shaking. Throughout the city alarms blaring, cars frozen the moment the cake struck at a standstill drivers scrambling out. Things in your house are falling over and shattering. Reporter throughout central mexico those choking clouds of dust, people panicking and praying. I still dont feel safe. I feel like im living in an aftershock constantly. Reporter as windows slipped down buildings like sheets of ice debris crushed vehicles. The water at this park splashing as if in a giant bathtub. It struck after safety drills on tuesday, drills that were put into place after mexicos deadliest earthquake back in 1985. Shockingly that quake which killed thousands rocked mexico on the exact same date, september 19th. And hampering the rescue efforts even more is the fact that there is no electricity in much of mexico city. Nearly 4 Million People cut off from power and the roads are in such bad shape that rescuers are struggling even to reach those who need help. One more thing, we flew in here to guadalajara, a sixhour drive away because the Mexico City Airport was so badly damaged. A lot of destruction. President trump has sent his condolences to mexico saying we are with you and we will be there for you. As he continues his week on the world stage in new york, today hes going to meet with foreign leaders including theresa may, their first meeting since President Trump sent that controversial tweet about the london subway attack last week and the president s blistering speech to the General Assembly where he threatened to destroy north korea and taunted kim jongun with a new nickname rocket man that sparked strong reactions around the world. Well talk to nikki haley about that in a moment. First jon karl has more. President trumps grave threat to north korea is getting some blowback here at home from his critics. One prominent democratic senator is accusing the president of isolating the United States and using the u. N. As a backdrop to threaten war. Lets give this as a toast to the potential, the great, Great Potential of the united nations. Reporter with a raised glass and upbeat toast, President Trump welcomed the world to his hometown tuesday. But his u. N. Speech is generating headlines about the prospects of war with north korea. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself for its allies we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Reporter trumps 42minute speech at times drew audible gasps and murmurs from the crowd. His warning to north korean dictator kim jongun unlike anything the General Assembly has ever heard from an american president. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission for himself and for his regime. Reporter the north korean delegation had front row seats but boycotted the speech. Some of the iranian dims stayed to listen as trump hammered their leaders for funding terror. And he lashed out at the Nuclear Agreement president obama and americas closest allies in europe brokered with iran. That deal is an embarrassment to the United States and i dont think youve heard the last of it, believe me. Reporter that showure sound like a hint he will end it but he meets with the leaders of jordan and egypt, our arab allies that have a great interest in maintaining it. They along with our european allies are encouraging the president not to walk away from the deal . Along with the u. N. Secretarygeneral, jon karl, thanks very much. Lets bring in nikki haley, ambassador haley, thanks for joining us. You heard some of that reaction to the president s speech especially those words about north korea. The people jon quoted, the european foreign minister said we never talk about destroying countries. How do you respond to that . Well, i think what you saw yesterday from the president was he was being honest. I know that, you know, people and countries dont want to hear it but here is a man who continues to test Ballistic Missiles. He continues to test now Hydrogen Bombs. He continues to threaten our allies. He says hes going to destroy the United States to ashes and continue to send us gift packages to the United States. So if you want to talk about whos been giving the threats, its certainly been the kim regi regime. What we are saying we have exhausted every diplomatic means and we are going to din to do. While hes continuing to be irresponsible well be responsible and tried to do dialogue and sanctions and the International Community actually very much appreciated the blunt honest approach that the president took on north korea as well as on iran. The president also said the denuclearization is the only acceptable outcome for north korea. Does that mean that the United States is going to destroy north Koreas Nuclear weapons if kim jongun doesnt give them up . What it means is he needs to stop. He needs to stop with the Hydrogen Bomb testing. He needs to stop with the threats. He needs to stop with the does he need to give up the weapons. To the point we can have a regular conversation. Does he need to give up the weapons . Yes, he does not need to be a Nuclear Power. He has shown in every way why he would be an irresponsible Nuclear Power and no one in the International Community wants to see that happen. Do you think its appropriate to use a term like rocket man to talk about the leader of another country who has nuclear weapons. Ill tell you, george, it worked. I was talking to a president of an african country yesterday and he actually cited rocket man back to me. So i will tell you that, look, this is a way of like, you know, getting people to talk about him but every other International Community now is referring to him as rocket man. And on the issue of iran, the iran Nuclear Agreement, is the president prepared to break that agreement even if our european allies say we shouldnt . I think the president is just looking at the situation and what he sees is while the one part of the nuclear deal is what everybody seems to talk about, the other side of u. S. Law says that iran is actually in violation of Ballistic Missile testing, of armed sales to terrorists and of support of terrorists and so if you look at this, we have to call out the wrongs that we see. If we dont call them out we wont have another north korea and so what he is saying is everybody has to stop tiptoeing around iran who theyre all worried is going to get out of the deal and acknowledge these harmful things theyre doing across the globe and call them out for it. Ambassador haley, thanks for your time this morning. Thanks so much. Okay, george, we want to go back to Victor Oquendo in san juan, puerto rico, where Hurricane Maria is hitting right now. Victor, what is the conditions right now . Reporter robin, conditions just continue to get worse out here. The winds really picking up and the debris starting to fly around in just about every direction. This black building behind me moments before you guys came to me, windows just blown out left and right, there was a huge awning on top of that building as well. If we pan over to the right if we can, a huge awning just came down right over there. Its a huge screen it was like a billboard of sort that came down. Theres metal flying all over the place. At this point residents, anyone visiting the island have all been told to shelter in place. We know at our Hotel Security came by knocking door to door telling everybody get out of your rooms, we dont want you around any spot that has any glass nearby. Go inside this one central room that theyve isolated for everybody to get inside and stay safe because as you see right now, maria hasnt even reached san juan yet and were feeling strong effects. Another powerful gust. For us were at our location surrounded by concrete so we feel pretty safe but if we need to well obviously move up side. Robin, george, michael. Please do move inside when you need to. Thank you very much. Absolutely. We go back to ginger with more on the destructive rain and wind slamming puerto rico today. In san juan victor is less than 30 miles from the outside of that eye. Wanted to show you the rainfall. It makes a huge impact up to 25inches in some of those High Mountain areas. Lets get to the hot cities brought to you by las vegas conventions. Nice today. We have issues down the coast. Stormstormstorm storm tracker6 live double scan shows you were dry. Looking at heavy surf rip currents and possible coastal flooding at times of high tide both today and tonight probably not as bad tonight. Your exclusive accuweather 7day, were in the 70s now going up to 84 for a high, breezy and warm and pleasant across most of the region. Then 86 tomorrow and 84 as autumn arrives on friday. Saturday 86 under the sun and sunday up close to 90. Llions in devastating wind and rain. Im a migraine sufferer and im an emt. When i get a migraine at work, its debilitating. If i call out with a migraine, thats one less ambulance to serve a community. I just dont want to let these people down. Excedrin migraine. Relief that works as hard as you do. Andrew. Rita. Sandy. Meet chris jackie joe minor damage, or major disaster, when you need us most, were here to help. State farm. Were a force of nature, too. An epic flavor. Its cranberry. Its pineapple. And theres no. Sugar. Added. Cranberry pineapple 100 juice. The next big thing to hit the juice aisle. 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Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. [ mo more, more, more ny ] how do you like it how do you like it more, more, more how do you like it how do you like it how do you like it more, more, more good morning im tamala edwards. Its 7 23 on this wednesday september 20th. Lets go over to karen rogers. Shes taking a look at night. Good morning. Our big accident of the morning was here in bucks county where we had three vehicles involved and one of the vehicles an suv completely flipped over. Were looking live at i95. This is northbound traffic right here between academy and woodhaven road as you head towards woodhaven, weve got the left lane blocked but you can see that vehicle they got it upright and onto a tow truck so hopefully getting ready to clear this. Southbound all lanes have reopened there but were seeing really slow speeds. Look at this. I95 northbound what a mess. Youre usually flying by here with no delay but you see thats not the case today. Northbound jams from cottman approaching woodhaven where you have a 37 minute ride a pretty big jam. Might want to stick to route 13 instead. Weve got another accident involving an overturned vehicle. Huntington pike at cathedral road. This is here in montgomery county. Stick to buck road as your alternate. Ambulance and fire responding to the scene right now, tam. Okay, thank you, karen. Well take a short break and come back to your accuweather. Breezy and comfortable across the region right now. Weve got some sun mixing with some clouds. Take a look as were at 71 degrees in philadelphia, 68 in allentown and not all that humid in most neighborhoods. Your exclusive accuweather 7day going to be warm today with a mix of clouds and sun, breezy a high of 84. Rosh hashanah arriving at sundown. Down the shore we have rip currents and coastal flooding. 84 on friday and tam, that would be the arrival of autumn. Not going to feel like it. Okay, thank you david. Coming up on gma they take a look at some of big stories around the nation. Well see you back here in 30. We just moved in about four months ago, but the living rooms pretty blank. We did a lot of research online. We just need to have a designer put it all together. Mmm hmm. So, its really nice when clients come in and have. Done some of their own research. What do you think about these chairs and that table . Working with a bassett designer was really easy. Us being young professionals, were so busy. Theres no way we couldve designed it ourselves. No. We love it oh, boy. Back here on gma. That is san juan, puerto rico. It is getting hammered right now by Hurricane Maria making landfall as a category 4 storm. Millions in its path. There are fears this could be the worst hurricane to hit the island in nearly a century and its coming directly on the heels of Hurricane Irma which has not made it easy for anyone. Victor oquendo right in the middle of it all. Straight to him. Reporter the winds severely picking up at this point. The rain so powerful you can really only see a block away at this point. Were in san juan in a very popular tourist area here. Most of these buildings are hotels but there are some residential buildings. Theres this one orange building behind me, a piece of debris just fell here. Those windows there for that building, theyve all been blown out except for the ones shuttered up. Weve been listening to them blow out all morning long. Where we are just to let you guys know, were in an area surrounded by concrete on three sides and has a concrete ceiling but feel were okay for this spot. Obviously if we need to there is a way to get indoors and to a more secure location. We will do that if we need to. For now well keep bringing you these reports as the conditions just continue to get worse here in san juan, george, robin, michael. Victor, thank you for letting us know where you are, the exact location and putting our viewers at ease because a lot concerned for you. Back to rob who is in san juan smack dab in the middle of the storm, as well. Rob. Good morning, robin. We are on the other side of where victor is its the northern side of san juan right on the beaches and the winds are now as bad as they have been all morning. We are protected by a wall behind me, exposed to the top. Thats why youre seeing this rain. I have a firm grip on this railing as the eye wall now is pounding us east, northeast winds have been ferocious all night long just rocking these structures and youve seen on the other side from victor just how much debris is flying across the streets here in san juan. The storm surge continues to creep up. Even on the north side of this, on the northern side of this storm you can see just how the wind is swirling. Its unbelievable. Power is out as you would imagine. When irma came through with just 70mileanhour winds 70 out of the island was without power. We expect all of the island to be out for days if not weeks. This is what its like to be in the eye wall of a category 4 hurricane. It is quite an experience as you would imagine, guys, back to you. All right, rob, please be safe. I know you say youre in a good location but it still looks a little scary sitting here. We want to make sure you stay well continue to ginger who is in our extreme Weather Center and has more. Its beyond san juan, theyre in that northeast quadrant. 60 miles on either side of the eye so basically the entire north to south width of puerto rico feeling hurricaneforce winds. You can see those shredded palm trees. Those are made to withstand hurricanes and they are not even holding up and some of those i remember imagines where the water is already pushing in six to nine feet of storm surge possible, 20 to 25 inches flash flooding type rain happening in these places too. Once it gets beyond puerto rico is the next question. What does it do to the Dominican Republic. Far enough east that i think you will see high surf and Power Outages but north and east of the turks and caicos in a hurricane warning and east of the southern bahamas. Then it stays out in the atlantic far enough away from land and far enough away from north, South Carolina and wont talk about it until midweek. Well stay on top and have much more on Hurricane Maria all this morning but there is other news like the football hazing investigation. Five Wheaton College players are facing felony charges accused of kidnapping, brutally assaulting a fellow teammate. Some of those players have now turned themselves in and amy, i know youre following this. These are disturbing allegations of hazing that one freshman says left him bound with duct tape, beated and half naked with two torn shoulders. It happened more than a year ago but all five players still on that teams roster until now. Overnight two College Football players surrendering to police on felony charges stemming from a violent hazing incident. Three of their teammates have yet to turn themselves in for the alleged attack that left a fellow teammate severely injured after he says he was aabducted from a dorm room, beaten and abandoned half naked on a baseball field. They are being charged with felony counts, aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint. Reporter the five players all seniors at Wheaton College in illinois, one the son of former nfl linebacker chris spielman. It took place in march of 2016. The vic telling School Investigators my arms were violently torn behind me. I was held down and ducked taped extremely around my ankles, wrists with a pillowcase over my head and pumped in my ribs and in a tremendous amount of pain and scared. His attorney speaking to abcs alex perez. He had both the labruns in both shoulders torn and had to have those pinned back in. And obviously has suffered through the mental anguish. Reporter the victim leaving school immediately following the incident. Over a year later all five of the players were still listed on the 2017 wheaton Football Team roster. Three of them playing in last saturdays game. This is absolute criminal behavior. Reporter Wheaton College telling abc news in a statement, the conduct we discovered as a result of our investigation into this incident was entirely unacceptable and inconsistent with the values we share as human beingses and as members of an Academic Community that exspouses to live according to our community covenant. Haze something something that is here to stay, mens team, wom womens team, often actually seen as a way for a team to bond but the failure here is a failure of leadership, the fact that no one stepped in and said you cant do this. Reporter now if i statement right before Noah Spielman turned himself in they say he will cooperate with authorities moving forward in this legal process. Kyler kregel posted bond, left without comment and did not receive a response from the other three players or their attorneys. Lets bring in dan in this discussion here because this happened a year and a half ago. Some people are wondering why did it take authorities stow long . The authorities response a lot of interviews they had to do, a lot of witnesses they had to speak to and point out there was a summer break in school. I dont know. That doesnt sound to me like a good enough answer. When Something Like this happens so long ago and you wait so long, there are potential issues in a trial with people forgetting what happened. With questions about why the police took so long, why the authorities were investigating this. It seemed and you heard actually the father of one of the defendants make the point that it seemed they were exonerated over a year ago and i cant believe that were back here talking about this again. Lets talk about hazing because we heard in the piece there some people say, hey, this is just an extreme form of bonding. When does it become criminal . Actually its pretty easy to make it criminal and if the allegations here are true, its not going to be that tough a case to prove because, remember, if you hit somebody else, thats a battery. Here if the allegations are true, they literally effectively kidnapped him from his room, they duct tape him, they, you know, attack him in different ways, they then throw him there on the ground in the field, you know, thats going to be aggravated battery. Other crimes here, as well but there are going to be questions about exactly who did what. And was he part of this and these are the sorts of defenses we see in a case like this. Keeping a close eye on this. Dan, thanks so much. Coming up, well have much more on Hurricane Maria as it hits puerto rico and a sinkhole emergency in florida, the earth opening up swallowing homes. Is Hurricane Irma to blame . How do you chase what you love with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis . Do what i did. Ask your doctor about humira. Its proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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Im bringing forward a treatment for alzheimers disease, yes, in my lifetime, i will make sure. Back now on gma, youre looking live at Hurricane Maria. The category 4 storm hitting puerto rico this morning and millions are still in its path right now. And in florida, theyre still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Irma and now a sinkhole emergency and gio benitez is on the scene with more. Good morning, gio. Reporter michael, good morning. Listen, Hurricane Irma came through here about a week ago and still people in florida are feeling its impact. I want to show you how. Lets get a look from the air right now. This is our live drone cam and you can see that house behind me, the house is just being swallowed up by that sinkhole as we speak and it was likely triggered by all that rain. This home that survived Hurricane Irma this morning a total loss. Swallowed up by a massive sinkhole that began opening late monday. We made it through the hurricane, we were really, really lucky and then this. Reporter ellen miller and her family scrambling to salvage what they could. Their oven clearly lost in the wreckage. I saw a big, deep crack in the bathroom and the tub was sinking and the window was coming loose and i said, its time to go. Reporter down the road residents told to keep clear of this area behind a middle school that was washed out over the weekend. At least eight reported sinkholes opening up in florida since Hurricane Irma made landfall here last week including part of this road in altamont springs and in orlando ac unis falling into the earth. It has to happen at some point when you have a tremendous amount of water like from irma that exacerbates the situation and makes it happen much more quickly. Reporter experts say sinkholes are extremely common in florida especially after a big storm. Excess rainwater can wash away sand just below the surface creating an underwater cave and the weight above eventually becomes too heavy. These things happen over thousands of years and develop until finally they show up at the surface. Several and talk with John Dickerson inches of rain that happened during irma was the last straw. Reporter as for miller and her family, thankfully nobody was hurt. This is the only home i know and its the only home my kids know. Reporter and back here with our live drone cam, over apopka, florida, you can see that sink role right there. The family lived here for nearly 50 years. Now just watching that go into the ground. Now there are some Early Warning signs for sinkhole. If you hear the cracking sound, those popping sound, thats when you know you just got to get out, call for help and watch for doors and windows sticking and look for cracks in the wall, michael. Thank you, gio. Right when you think you make it through irma then Something Like that comes along. And maria is still hitting hard right now in puerto rico. Well be right back with that. I accept i dont bike as far as i used to. I even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. But no matter where i ride, i go for my best. So if theres Something Better than warfarin, ill go for that too. Eliquis. Eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis had both. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. 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Then we are told its braver to go it alone. But there is another way to live. A way that sees the only path to fulfillment is through others. Lc Lauren Conrad sweatersnt are just 36. 99 sonoma denim is 19. 99 and save on shoes and handbags. Plus, take an extra 20 off when you spend 100 or more youll get kohls cash too kohls. Back now on gma, Hurricane Maria is bearing down on puerto rico right now. The eye of the storm making landfall earlier this morning. Rob marciano is right there in the middle of the storm. Good morning again, rob. Hey, michael, good morning to you. We are in the eye wall. We just got a bit of a break, thank goodness. I wish i could show you whats happening on the other side of this ledge but were tethered for broadcasting purposes and this is as far as we can get the camera but there is debris and palm fronds all over the side and it continues to pound up against some buildings down here so substantial surge happening even here on the northern side of the island with the eye wall hitting the Southern Side with a strong surge there. But winds gusting to over 110 miles an hour within the last hour or so. It just is not letting up here and were just getting going as far as whats going down in san juan. Nobody has power, i would imagine. One of the most fortified structures in the city with plenty with a backup power plant whats call, a huge generator and thats gone out as well and communications are going down. The fact we can broadcast at all right now is a small miracle. Our hearts go out to the people that are in puerto rico right now. 3. 5 million american citizens right now going through the full force of Hurricane Maria. Guys, back to you for now. All right, thank you, rob. Our hears are there, as well. Our well wishes as well. Coming up, much more live in puerto rico. Our team in the storm zone as Hurricane Maria hits and we got an important milestone were marking with robin today. A reason to celebrate and were excited to share that with you here on gma. Walgreens is easier than ever. Just walk right in and pay zero dollars with most insurance. Plus, when you get a flu shot at walgreens, you help provide a lifesaving vaccine to a child in need through the un foundation. Its that easy to get your flu shot and make a difference. So swing by your local walgreens today. Walgreens. At the corner of happy healthy. Whats new from light and fit . Greek nonfat yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. Real fruit and 90 calories. 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He drops back got a man wdown field, he throws. , its intercepted by philips hes at the 40, hes at the 30, hes at the 20, hes got one man to beat hes going all the hes going all the what . Nothing comes before coffee. Thats why were introducing a whole new line of espresso drinks from mccafe. Cafequality from beans to espresso machines. Touchdown approximately four seconds ago. Back here on Good Morning America, the worst of Hurricane Maria is hitting puerto rico as we speak so i want to go to these pictures seeing them throughout the morning but shredding the trees, the buildings there. Seeing debris pictures on line. You saw debris flying through the air a moment ago. Windows blown out in buildings already and just getting into the eye wall in san juan so those pictures coming out of a populated place. There are a lot of places across puerto rico hearing the hurricaneforce winds and extreme wind warning for 115 plusmileperhour gusts that extend for almost the entire eastern half of puerto rico. Thats all brought to you [drumming] one time, in new orleans, well, before it was even founded, a french teenager, bienville, scared away a british warship with just a story. And Great Stories kept coming. Like when the military came and built the boats to win the war. [warplane] some are tales told around crowded tables. [streetcar rumble] and others are performances fit for the stage. Stella cause for three hundred years, Great Stories have started the same way. One time, in new orleans. [crowd applause] Good Morning America is brought to you by the makers of n nondrowsy claritin. Live claritin clear. Good morning, im tamala edwards. 7 56 on this wednesday september 20. Lets head over to karen rogers. Again shes looking at 95. A big accident tam involving three vehicles, one of which was overturned on 95 northbound near woodhaven cleared. Were looking live at cottman and the delay is getting a little better. Were down to 25 minutes. At one point it was about 40 minutes to get from vine to woodhaven. This is stacked on 95 northbound. We had a bunch of accidents lately on i95 northbound and today is no exception there. But things are getting a little bit better. Looking outside live on the boulevard extension here, this is approaching wissahickon and you can see right now weve got an accident blocking the left lane. This is northbound on the boulevard. Tow trucks, penndot on the scene jammed from the schuylkill to approaching wissahickon avenue where we have an accident blocking a left lane. Our second accident of the morning involving an overturned vehicle over here in Huntington Pike at cathedral road in montgomery county. Stick to buck road. Ambulance on the scene. A couple accidents involving vehicles just flipping over. Okay, thank you, karen. Sky6 hd taking a live look over the commodore barry. A pretty but varied look there, some gray, some sun. Its go over to meteorologist, david murphy. Good morning. Feeling really comfortable tam on the terrace. We have a fair amount of cloud cover, some sun, temperature right now is 71 degrees and theres a little bit of a nice breeze blowing. Your exclusive accuweather 7day, overall its a good one today with a mix of clouds and sun, a high of 84. Just a slight chance of a passing sprinkle or shower, most of you stay dry. If youre on the beach though stay on the beach. The water is still very rough. 86 very warm and humid tomorrow. Sun, some clouds and then 84 on friday. And tam, autumn arrives it will feel like summer in the afternoon. Thank you david. Police say they know who theyre looking for in connection with a double stabbing in northeast philadelphia. Two siblings ages 17 and 20 were slashed inside a home on the 1100 block of fillmore street. Were told its the mothers 33yearold boyfriend that is the suspect and that there had been a fight. The stabbing victims are in stable condition. Thats it for now. Sending you back to the second hour of gma. Well see you back here in 30. Good morning, america. Its 8 00 a. M. Breaking at this hour Hurricane Maria. Its tearing into puerto rico right now, millions racing to find shelter. Our team is live from the storm zone. New this morning, ivanka trump revealing she struggled with postpartum depression after the birth of each of her three children. What shes revealing about her struggle. A celebration five years in the making. Going home now whoo were saying happy birthday to robin. Its been five years since her bone Marrow Transplant. Her incredible medical journey, the long road to recovery that inspired so many to help be the match. Youre going to meet some incredible everyday heroes helping save lives. This morning, were paying it forward. The live event you dont want to miss. And my friends are here to say all good morning, america. Ivanka. And good morning, america. How did you get down here so fast . Happy birthday if for a 5yearold, not bad. Were celebrating your fifth birthday. Im going to let you explain it. Okay. It was five years ago today that i had my lifesaving bone Marrow Transplant from a sister sallyann. This marks my rebirth. Considered your birthday when you have your transplant and our audience im happy to say are full of bone marrow donors and recipients such as myself, their family, doctors, everyone, and last saturday did you know was world marrow donor day celebrating all the donors out there and we should celebrate them every day and everybody for helping me mark this. Youve helped so many with your story. Its a privilege to be a messenger and hope to be a messenger of hope and resilience and i say that thinking of people who are going through hurricanes, who are going through the fires out west, the earthquakes, everybody has something and you had a left foot, right foot, keep moving. Keep believing. A special moment coming up, a young boy who got a transplant is going to meet his donor facetoface for the first time. That is going to be something. Of course, weve got a lot of thus this morning as well including that hurricane. It is hitting san juan, puerto rico so hard and to Victor Oquendo. Reporter the rain and winds battering this section. This did a popular area for tourists. Hotels line the street here. Now just being hammered by Hurricane Maria. Take a look at this building right here behind me. That window on the top floor was blown out minutes ago. That white oval shape, there used to be a big sign there. That also got blown away over to the right. Underneath that mexican restaurant, that marine sign is what it was, debris lining the trees, rain and wind so strong you can only see a block in either direction. Debris as i mentioned here, i mean, youve got metal part, parts of fence, plant, parts of tree, its getting pretty bad out here. The main concern, of course, the winds and the storm surge. Parts of puerto rico could be looking at six to nine feet of storm surge. A major concern for people who live in so many of these homes here that were not built to any kind of code. Those homes that were built illegally and in speaking to an engineering professor he made it clear those are the homes that are most susceptible to this damage and those are the ones that could be swept away as Hurricane Maria passes through. Thats the big as a result nernlt but any sense of how well they were able to prepare for this . Reporter a lot of people made their way to shelters quickly because those structures are just not safe whatsoever. Most of the homes, i should mention this, across puerto rico were built to an old code where theyre made to withstands of 125 miles an hour. That would be a category 2 storm. Maria obviously much more powerful than that. Hopefully those people who live in those unsafe structures did make it to shes shelters in time. At this point its too late. Victor oquendo, thanks very much. We hear theres Something Like 500 shelters there in puerto rico. So lets go to another part of san juan, joe torres from our new york station wabc will is in the storm zone. Good morning, joe. Reporter and just when you think weve experienced the fury, the top peak of Hurricane Maria, stronger winds, greater gusts roar through the area. There is debris already everywhere. Rule tile, the tops of palm trees that were just peeled off, not the palm fronds, the top of the tree. So many of the plywood boards that were put up to protect windows have already been ripped down. Weve seen street signs, as well. We are in a parking garage protected here. Out there, standing, impossible. Thank you, joe. Joe from wabc. Scary to see. Coming up well switch gears around here. We cant wait to get upstairs to join our incredible audience and theyre here marking robins fifth birthday. The anniversary of her lifesaving bone Marrow Transplant. Cant wait to tell you about the incredible mad cal advancements in the last five years and that boy is coming facetoface with a donor who saved his life for the very first time and the donor who saved my life, my big sister is here too. Come on back. Im cindy. This is braden. Braden is battling infant leukemia. Thank you Robin Roberts for bringing awareness to be the match. Say byebye. Byebye. Ask sherwinwilliams during the 4day super sale. Save 40 on paints and stains from september 22nd through the 25th. Theres a store in every neighborhood find yours at sherwinwilliams. Com save. When food is good and clean and real, its ok to crave. And with panera catering, theres more to go around. Panera. Food as it should be. [ mo more, more, more ny ] how do you like it how do you like it more, more, more how do you like it how do you like it how do you like it more, more, more this i can do, easily. I try hard to get a great shape. Benefiber® healthy shape is a clear, tastefree, 100 natural daily fiber. Thats clinically proven to help me feel fuller longer. Benefiber® healthy shape. This i can do cover of chainsmokers dont l me down the issues we care about can weigh on us. So lift the weight of caring, by doing. Visit state farms neighborhoodofgood. Com to volunteer in your community. Cant touch this cant touch this ah, welcome back. Back here our gma. I mean, what a wonderful every audience that we have every day is so wonderful. This one is special. A gentleman in the corner fives year ago for him too that he had a successful bone Marrow Transplant. Very happy. Hes 5 years old too with a beard. Never seen a 5yearold with a beard. Looking around and seeing everybody, my friends from be the match. Thats my sister. [ applause ] youve got a front row seat to lara spencer and pop news. A very big ticket. This one is for you. Good morning, everybody. Well begin with emma stone. This friday well see her transform into Billie Jean King for her role in the battle of the sexes against bobby riggs who wanted to, quote, put the show back in chauvinism. Her transformation didnt come easy. She put on 15 pounds of pure muscle on to that slender frame and lift weights while listening to billie jeans voice over and over and coached on the court by billie jean herself and since shes played tennis three times in her life she decided to focus on two thing, getting that serve and backhand motion and let her tennis standin do the rest. You can see it when they face off this friday. We all know this movie is about so much more than that legendary match. Its about society at that time. There is a big message underlying that. I happened to be at a wlun common and billie and emma were there and shonda rhimes. You think you know the story. No, you dont. You have to see this movie. Im excited. Also getting terrific buzz so two powerhouse performances. Also in pop news this morning, well, these days it seems like you cant get much for 2. Maybe a pack of gum, soda or a french chateau. Yeah, check it out. Look at michael strahan. Mr. Real estate. The chateau built in 1453. Oui, oui. Near the loire valley. Bidding started at just one euro with no reserve. This is not a joke. We looked into it. The count and count test who live there currently want out. They have tried conventional roads to sell. Now it has come to this and hope it goes for more than one euro but agreed to roll the dice in return for the press they knew their offering would get. So what do you get if youre the winning bidder. 600yearold chateau. Six bedrooms, 42 acres of perfectly groomed gardens. Caretaker house and a guest house. The owners had previously listed it for around 5. 9 million before taking this drastic measure. The chateau hits the Auction Block on october 19th. Michael strahan is writing it down. Thinking about it. I was thinking about it and then im like something is wrong. No. What do you mean . They want out. Why do you want out . I need more answers before i commit to that. My thought was ghosts. Right . Its 600 years old. Yeah, in might be some plumbing issues. And, guy, that is our abbreviated version of pop news because we have so much to get to because of you. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Now, well go to amy and heal has a very important story for us. We do, indeed. We turn to our gma cover story, ivanka trump making headlines with a surprising revelation that she suffered from postpartum depression after the births of all three of her children, a condition as we know millions of women face and well speak with dr. Jen in a moment. But first heres the story. This morning, a personal revelation from first daughter ivanka trump. With each of my three children i had some level of postpartum and postpartum. Depression. Reporter the 35yearold mother of three opening up for the first time about experiencing postpartum depression on an upcoming episode of the dr. Oz show. It was a challenging emotional time because i felt like i was not living up to my potential as a parent or as an entrepreneur and executive and i had had such easy pregnancies that in some way the juxtaposition hit me even harder. Reporter trumps role as an unpaid Senior Adviser in the white house has come under scrutiny and spoke to me about the challenges all new moms face in 2015. We want to be mothers and sisters. We are sisters. Were training for marathons, were learning how to garden. The goal is to change this narrative and to be a part of it. Reporter experiencing postpartum depression can make going back to work harder. With as many as one in seven women suffering from it trump says its time to take her public struggle into the public sphere. Its incredibly important and, look, i consider myself a very hard charging person. I am ambitious. Im passionate. Im driven but this is something that affects parents all over the country. Dr. Jen ashton is here now, youre, of course, a practicing ob gyn. Good morning. Talk about what is new in the fight against postpartum depression. Big push about prevention, awareness, screening, diagnosis, treatment. Management. You have to remember what the symptoms are, take a look at this list. This involves a woman who has recently given birth having depressed mood. Severe mood swing, excessive crying. This is not subtle. Difficulty bonding with the baby, withdrawing from family and friends or change in their appetite. You need to jump all over this. This is a true medical emergency. You need to get help. This doesnt just affect women. New mothers. New research actually substance yachting the fact dads experience this, as well. One in four. Its not known what causes it. It could be the tress from becoming a new parent. It could be lack of social support. It could be feeling excluded from the mother baby bond but they need support. This affects the entire family and we need to drop the stigma. Thats the most important part. Medical intervention is necessary. Dr. Jen, thanks as always. Want to turn to ginger with the latest on Hurricane Maria battering puerto rico right now . An update from the National Hurricane center. We had 15mile southsouthwest of san juan. The Hard Rock Cafe peeled a way. Max sustained winds. Ginger, we are dry on storm tracker6 live double scan. Rough surf down the shore again today, though. Sky6 shows you that we have clouds mixing with some sun and its a little breezy across the region but pretty comfortable with temperatures in the low 70s. Your exclusive accuweather 7day forecast, going for a high of 84 today, breezy and warm. Again at the coast stay out of the water but its a great day on the beach. 86 degrees thursday. Very warm and humid. And then some sun for the arrival of fall on friday. And 84 in the afternoon. Awarens month and today, september 209 a inteshl day of celebration for all of us. It is. It was, well, five years ago today that i had my bone Marrow Transplant and that was after ten consecutive days of chemotherapy to get me ready for the transplant and it was considered to be a rebirth. And i definitely felt that i was getting another chance at life. Sometimes treatment for cancer can lead to other serious medical issues and thats what im facing right now. It is something that is called mds. My big sister is a virtually Perfect Match for me and she is going to be my donor. Shes going to be my donor. Five years ago today surrounded by my family and close friends, i was given the gift of life. Nothing can keep me from you reporter with a bone Marrow Transplant. I feel all the love in here. All the love. Were keeping it going. Reporter my transplant doctor, sergio said a prayer for me as he inserted millions of my sisters sallyanns stem cells into a port in my chest. I think now is a good time to say, go, sally, go. Reporter the weeks after my transplant were brutal. Spent mostly in isolation, when i was able to leave my room i had to wear a mask and gloves and everyone around me had to do the same. All in an effort to keep me strong as i recovered and built up my immune system. But at types i felt anything but strong. We got to stop meeting like this. Rejoice, rejoice emmanuel we love you dear sister yes we do rejoice oh robin reporter after 30 days since i laid my burdens down going home now reporter i walked out of the hospital and felt blessed to take my first breath of fresh air. Ooh. After five years by the grace of god amber and my family i am thriving, healthy, strong and eternally grateful for life. Grooving. All right. Im going to go over here. Robin. Reporter to celebrate my anniversary i caught up with dr. Sergio who was happy to share with me the advances in the bone Marrow Transplant community. He invited me to a brandnew housing facility for patients with blood cancers and disorders. The memorial sloankettering patient residence. So we said lets make a facility that allows them to heal better. I cant imagine having gone through it five years ago as i did and would have welcomed Something Like this. So this is like a community area. Correct. And how many patients can be here . We have 20 units or 20 patients with their family care givers. Reporter the facility is an Apartment Building for patients who are recovering from transplants. Each unit is a home away from home. Its a part of memorial sloanketterings out patient and early discharge program. Does insurance cover this. Excellent question. We work with the patients families and their Insurance Companies, most Insurance Companies pay, not everybody does. Other than that what qualifies a patient to be able to be eligible to be here . Patients have to, one, be doing it as an outpatient or be discharged early and have a caregiver 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the other one they would have to be medically qualified. All of this is made possible because of a last five years the tremendous advances when it comes to the bone Marrow Transplant. Tell us about the significant medical advances. So, i mean there are many advances. These genetically modified tcells. They get genetically modified in the lab to attack a specific protein that is expressed on their tumors then we give those cells back and lo and behold eight out of ten patients actually go in remission. The other big one is weve always said you were blessed that you have a donor and that one of the Biggest Barriers to stem cell transplantation was not having a donor in the family. Now even if your brothers and sisters dont match fully, we can do a transplant with their stem cells with similar results to what we got with a brother or sister who is fully matched. Thats huge. Thats huge. Thats huge. Lynndell is being treated for nonhodgkins lymphoma. Three weeks after her transplant shes back on her feet. Hello. Recovering here at the patient residence. What has it meant to you to be able to be here to recover . Oh, its been everything to us. Its been a respite and simplified our life. As a caregiver while shes in the hospital its close enough that i could, you know, go back and forth throughout the day, as you know, when youre in there, youre i dont want to say youre trapped there for awhile but youre there for awhile if how are you feeling . I feel great. I feel rested. I feel just wonderful. But i have battled this for 12 years and finally have a solution at the end that i could get the stem cell and move on to the next step. Well, thank you for sharing your story and your journey. And lyndell and her husband have been married for 49 years and already invited myself to their golden anniversary. I did, honestly. Okay. Got my whole family here. I got my family there. Part of my family there. Sallyann who is my donor, my partner amber who was there every step of the way and im usually pretty composed. Im going to lean on you a little bit, george. I got my whole family here. Somebody who left the nest, richard besser, dr. Richard besser is back with us [ cheers and applause ] thank you. Now the president and ceo of the Robert Wood Johnson foundation doing some great work and well talk to you about that but i had to say thank you. You and diane sawyer were my beacons, you were my north star in helping me navigate so much and its a given that your family are going to be there, your family and friends if youre blessed and its a given that the importance that they have. But this, your family at work is so incredibly vital. Talk about the work of care givers. Yeah, its so important. I mean, when i reflect back on that time, what you gave to all of us through letting us see your journey, the highs and the lows and letting us see your strength, that gave courage to people all over the country, all over the world. The ability you had to let people in to help you, people at work who stepped up to help you and the role of the caregiver. We think we often take the caregiver for granted but its an incredibly important role. You cant get a transplant unless you have a caregiver who is willing to be there 24 7 and takes a person who has love but may not have medical experience and turns them into a medical professional whose job it is to keep you safe and we need to do more to make sure theyre supported and have social support around them so in giving you what you needed they get what they need. Youre a medal professional now, amber. I learned so much just every day just being there and being every step of the way. Youre being thrown information and youre trying to keep it altogether. Sorry. What advice do you have for people in a similar situation . Definitely take care of yourself. You have to take care of yourself. Whether, you know, if youre being relocated and youre away from your home and during the days in your everyday life, if you exercise, go to the gym, find a yoga studio. Do something so you can just release all of this energy that you have built up from being around and being the giver and giving, giving, giving and it allows you to love and be able to be there and supportive. It was so great we had a lot of group of friends that came in and helped my sister and amber but i wanted to talk about my colleagues here. You filled in for me. You and Elizabeth Vargas so much. We had oprah. We had other people who came in. There were people that i heard from that said, we showed them we showed them how you care for somebody going through an illness like that and they are now doing job sharing too. To not have to worry about their job like i didnt have to worry about mine so im so grateful to you. Were grateful for you. Good morning, im tamala edwards. Its 8 27 on this wednesday september 20. Lets check your traffic with karen rogers. Good morning. Good morning tam. Problems on the roads and starting with a crawl on 422. This is approaching trooper eastbound traffic right here. You can see the problem, an accident although off to the shoulder creates some really heavy volume eastbound on 422 heading towards king of prussia. Youre sitting in this traffic from approaching oaks to 23. And heres another look here in conshohocken, we have a problem on the blue route. This is southbound approaching the schuylkill and you can see penndot out here as well with this accident scene and again although on the shoulder, create something slowing here from the midcounty tolls to the schuylkill here on the blue route. Over on the roosevelt boulevard northbound, theres an issue here as well approaching wissahickon an accident blocks the left lane. So you can see how traffic is kind of jammed trying to come around this. Bunch of accidents. Weve had a couple accidents involving overturned vehicles even though its dry out there and clear roads. In hammonton a problem in Atlantic County and that one is on the white horse pike near 206, route 30 eastbound traffic is blocked tam. Okay, thank you, karen. Now we go outside to dave murphy to give you the latest in accuweather. Good morning. More sunshine mixing with the clouds than this time yesterday and its also comfortable. Take a look. 71 degrees a little bit of a light breeze blowing at times. Really nice. And this afternoon warm again. A high of 84 degrees, breezy conditions and it looks like down the shore youre fine on the beach but getting in the waters not a good idea as we have rip currents and heavy surf again today. Very warm and a bit humid tomorrow, 86. Then 84 on friday as autumn arrives and for the weekend, we continue a summerlike pattern. 86 on saturday. Sunny and 89 on sunday for that eagles home opener. We could get up close to 90 sunday and monday, tam. Wow. Thank you david. Gma does continue. A special celebration of a milestone for robin. Well see you back here in 30. Aint no Mountain High enough nothing could keep me keep me from you [ applause ] a very special day. Its the fifth anniversary of my lifesaving bone Marrow Transplant. Thanks to this woman right here, my special guest. My sister, sallyann roberts. Yes. [ applause ] praise god. Praise god. Oh, i just think back to our childhood. Thats what im thinking about now but im so grateful. So, so incredibly grateful to sallyann . Im so grateful. Im so grateful to be here five years later to see you, robin, just beaming with health. I am just so thrilled. Our audience, i cannot even get it together right now. Im filled with people connected with the bone marrow registry of be the match and so grateful they are here and everyone, that is, and i have this special story that i want to share because when people, you know, there are four children in the Roberts Family and when i found out that i needed a bone marrow donor, all my siblings stepped up and i thought, okay, surely its going to be automatic, no, that only happens 30 of the time. So 70 of the time people need a bone Marrow Transplant, they werent fortunate to have someone in my family like i was blessed to have woman right here and thats where be the match comes in and one of the many people it helped was a young boy named a. J. And we want to share his story with you. He was a really healthy boy. All of a sudden in the middle of the night he woke up with leg pain and the following day the leg pain was so excruciating that we had to take him to the e. R. Reporter in the hospital on his fourth birthday in january 2013 a. J. And his family received a lifechanging diagnosis. We found out that it was actually leukemia. So we knew that we needed to get to walter reed as fast as possible. Reporter living overseas while dad jeff served in the military, a. J. And his family immediately flew back to the states for treatment. A. J. Was so sick, the treatment was so intense. Alexa and i were shifting each other out at the hospital. Eventually he did reach remission. Reporter unfortunately in the summer of 2015 a. J. Relapsed. It was another setback. It came back in two locations so thats a clear indication that the treatment wasnt working. Reporter at that point we knew that a transplant was really his only option. The first step was for all of us to be tested. And none of us were a match. Reporter the family turned to be the match, an organization that helps patients find their lifesaving donors. And thankfully they found a. J. A match. A 22yearold woman, thats all the family knew at the time. Meanwhile, a. J. Kept on fighting. Felt like a very long road leading up to his transplant day. He went through a lot of heavyduty chemotherapy. Reporter throughout the difficult process like a typical kid a. J. Found small moments of joy in his toys and even dancing. Woo. A. J. Reporter for a. J. s mom it was a glimmer of hope she needed. Writing to her sons donor. So im thinking of you as you head to the hospital today for your procedure and i thank you from the very depths of my heart for what youve done for my little boy. Reporter after 270 days in the hospital, the best news of all, the transplant worked. A. J. Was cancerfree. Happy birthday to you reporter after 2 1 2 years, 8yearold a. J. Is back in school. And now one more stop on his journey, meeting his donor for the first time facetoface. Saying thank you never really feels like enough when someone saves your childs life. [ applause ] a. J. Alexa, his dad jeff. Michael and i are so thrilled to have you with us. I got to tell you, how is it going, a. J. . Good. Yeah. What do you like to do . I dont know. Most of the time i like to build legos. Legos, perfect. We got a new movie coming out. We got some legos backstage for you. How is he doing. A. J. Is doing well. Going back to school and playing with his friends and, yeah, hes doing well. Alexa, a. J. Is 8 years old now and hes thriving so what does that mean to you to see him thrive in the way he is. Oh, you know, its well, i just feel so much joy after a lot of dark days and its so nice to see him running again and playing with his friends and going to school for a full day and seeing him smile again and talk. I know it had to be difficult when looking to the family and there was not a match and everybody always thinks it will be an automatic. You got a family members, itll be the case but its not and then to find that there was one on be the match. Yes. I remember i think my heart sank the day that none of us were a match but a lot of people were praying and fortunately we didnt have to wait very long. It was maybe two weeks afterwards we found out that a. J. Had a potential match. And what went through your head when you found out you did find a match . Relief. Relief. Yeah. Well, you know, a. J. s match is here. You know, youve never met in person. You talked on the phone but you havent met in person. We talked on the phone. Sent Text Messages back and forth. But we have not met her. So are you ready to meet her . Yes. Want to meet her. Very ready. My heart is pounding. [ laughter ] i dont know if i can take this. Get up. Everybody, give a round of applause to a. J. s match, alex. Come on out, alex. [ cheers and applause ] hi. [ applause ] good to see you, alex. Come on over. Good to see you. Oh, wow. Okay. This edition of Good Morning America brought to you by kleenex. [ laughter ] alex needs some herself. Look at something you want to say to her. Thanks for saving my life. [ applause ] it was my pleasure. Whats it like to see each other facetoface for the first time after all this. Its overwhelming. Of o weve thought a lot about meeting you and getting to know you more. Were so excited and so thankful. So beautiful, alexa, something you want to say. You know, just alex is already a part of our family and i really look forward to just sharing life with her and, you know, ive been doing that so far sending her messages and pictures of a. J. And every time he meets a milestone im excited to share it with her. Did you ever think when you signed up that youd end up with a family and a new friends and all of these things . No, i thought i would be lucky if i ever met my recipient but i was prepared for the fact that i might not ever know and i had to come to terps with that but it is surreal to me. Why did you want to be a donor . Because its the right thing to do. [ applause ] and its so beautiful, i know that without even meeting him, you wrote a letter. I did. Can you read a portion of it. This boy may be somebodys may someday be someones husband, someones father, grandfather, soninlaw, maybe he will take the world by storm and find the cure for cancer or maybe he wont. The point is he is important. The point is hes important. Wow. You know, ive been overwhelmed by this moment and everybody thats here. Well get to know more and more people and so grateful my sister was my donor. But a total stranger doing this. A total stranger and thats what we youve got the best smile. Can i just say that . The cutele little freckles. [ applause ] in the world. What is your message to people, especially young people thinking because you guys are the sweet spot, arent they . I mean the college my College Campus did a swabin for robin, a bone marrow drive because you all are really thank you for that. What is your message to someone. My message is dont be afraid to donate. Dont be afraid to join. You never are going to regret saving someone. Theres nothing bad that can come out of donating. Its all positives. Yeah. I tell you, im looking at a. J. Hes just staring at you. Hes so happy. Hes so happy and theres a big congratulations for you too, alex. Somebody is getting married, everybody. This weekend. [ cheers and applause ] in three days. Oh. So you have some people who may be sitting here with us who are going to the wedding. I do. Yeah. Im very excited. Wonderful. Extension of family. Extension of family. Thank you all so much. I know its not easy to share when youre going through Something Like this but its so important to give hope to people and as i said earlier its a privilege to be a messenger and i feel that we are. We are wrae delivering a message of hope and resilience and knowing that you just keep moving. You keep believing and we are all here today assembled and this too shall pass so thank you all very much. [ applause ] thank you so much. You guys just coming up. Robin has inspired thousands to be the match. And were going to tell you what to know so you can become a donor as well. Like this one right here. [ applause ] we just moved in about four months ago, but the living rooms pretty blank. Its really nice when clients come in and have done some of their own research. Working with a bassett designer was really easy. Just kind of ties in very well. We love it just kind of ties in very well. Back here on Good Morning America it is a morning of celebration for robin and everyone else. We have that watchful eye on the eye of Hurricane Maria. Join me on facebook on the gma facebook page, ask any questions you need. A lot of folks have family in puerto rico or friends and theyre concerned about them, saint croix, saint thomas, well talk about them all online at 9 15 a. M. But for now we got to get a check closer to home. Your exclusive accuweather 7day moving from the 70s to a high of 84, breezy and warm. Look out for that heavy surf. 86 tomorrow, 84 friday. Now, were all trying to figure out how to sit on the couch. Disclosure, were trying to figure out the couch. We are also not only celebrating today but looking at the inspiration, the difference that this has made over the last five years. And robin, you have made quite the difference, of course, for so many people. Youve obviously inspired people to be the match and they say now because you shared your story, we actually have the numbers here. More than 18,000 people joined that registry of be the match and 173 of those people actually went on to become donors. 173 lives saved from be the match. It is so important for everybody out there to sign up to be a donor because every three minutes somebody is diagnosed with a blood cancer every three minutes so this is so important and, robin, i mean echoing that, thank you. Thank you, michael. Thank you all. For bringing awareness to so many out there. Youve saved lives. Sallyann, a big part of this. I know a lot of people are scared to donate their bone marrow. They think its going to hurt. What is your advice to those people thinking id like to but i dont know if i can do it. There is nothing to be afraid of. It is easy, it did not hurt and if you have the privilege of being a donor, just consider it winning the powerball because theres no award that can top seeing a life saved. We saw a. J. Saved by alex. And my sister is alive, a. J. Is alive because of people who stand up, be a donor. My sister is proof. A. J. Is proof that this works. [ applause ] you know what, her dna is now coarsing through my veins. Along with her sweettooth and her allergies, im grateful. You talk about stand up. There are a lot of donors that are here in our audience right now. So, sallyann, you stand up and stand up with them. If you are a donor here in our audience, please stand. [ applause ] we also have some people here who have if youve received a transplant and some are still searching for a match so if you received a transplant or searching for a match, please stand up. [ applause ] the nurses and the physicians assistant, anyone who helped with bone Marrow Transplant patients, would you all please stand up and be recognized. Thank you. [ applause ] i want to mention something because my doctors and you saw Sergio Giralt with the bow tie. You know him so very well and gail robos is getting an award in poland and couldnt be here today. Thats the work shes doing all around the world. Youve right about the doctor, nurses, technician, it goes on and on and especially nurses are at the front line, Unsung Heroes and angels, so very grateful to them and we know you caregiver, youve been wonderful, amber. You dont know how difficult this is for her. She loves to be behind the scenes. Shes the wind beneath my wings and for you being the caregiver. Do we have others here . Do we know the care givers . [ applause ] stand up. You know what, we have Something Special for everybody. When we come back, one of your favorite performers is going to be here, Jesse Smollet is going to sing a song just for you. Our veterans have given us the rights and freedoms that we have and we enjoy today. Ready. Aim. Fire. And its important for us to let them know that we will never forget their service. Fire. It was steves idea to have this cemetery. This was supplied to the veterans, giving us a final resting place. We owe everything to steve for what he gave us here. I wanted to make sure that we just didnt say thank you to veterans, we had tangible things to show, and i think weve accomplished that. [ taps playing ] youre so beautiful the celebration continues. Right now empire star Jussie Smollet is here to perform for robin. This is all of us. This is you are so beautiful. Come on. Hey wooo oh whoa oh oh hey, robin. Love you. Listen sometimes you feel insecure trust me babe i understand yeah even with no manicure just know that i will still hold your hand yeah come on yeah. You look so good when you walking by sexy comes in every size keep wearing that baby you got yourself a new girl dont need no workout plan i call that baby fat you sure look good to knee come on. Youre so beautiful give the world a show go up down up down up down up down up down up down shake it fast its yours you cant see people love your crooked smile hair aint done but youll never go out of style no no hey go up down up down up down up down up down up down shake it fast sure cause youre so beautiful shes so beautiful, yall. Give it up. Oh up down up down up down up down up down up down go up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down shake it fast happy 5th birthday, robin. [ applause ] mwah. Thank you. You love you. Thank you all very much. Thank you, guys. Thank you, jussie. Look at this. Oh, wow. T comes to Cancer Treatment centers of america in philadelphia, shes coming for the multimodal therapy where the specialists form a treatment plan together. We were looking for a cancer team that would help us decide the best course of action. We have so many tools at our center. This is what attracted amy all the way from new york. These were people who were experts in their field. And for us that was the best choice. Learn more about our Breast Center at cancercenter. Com slash philadelphia. Youre so beautiful Good Morning America is brought to you by las vegas. Thanks again to jussie, i know. Sallyann, this is my Birthday Gift to you. My Birthday Gift to you. We got to say, jussie, empire is coming on next wednesday on fox. You just raised 250,000 for the flood victims. Plus the man has a new album coming out. Happy birthday, robin. Thank you. Good morning, im tamala edwards. 8 56 on this wednesday september 20. Lets get that last look at traffic with karen rogers. Good morning. Starting with problems in new jersey in really bad spots. 55 northbound approaching 42. Thats backed up on a good day. Now you have an accident there so speeds about 10 miles an hour at best right now. Were seeing a good five to 10 minute delay with an accident blocking a lane there. Also on 42 northbound approaching 41 here in deptford and thats blocking the left lane as well. Staying in new jersey, weve got problems in egg harbor township. Route 40 blocked both ways west of the Atlantic City expressway. Theres a disabled vehicle and heres the flooding thats an issue in egg harbor township. Be careful about that. Weve been warning about some coastal flooding. Stick to the a. C. Expressway instead of that area on 40. 422 heavy with eastbound traffic. See that 11 minute ride from oaks to 202 with that accident eastbound off to the side tam. Thank you, karen. Whats it going to be like outside today . Dave murphy has answers. All right tam weve got jose related clouds overhead but the sun is doing a much better job this morning of breaking through. 72 degrees currently in philadelphia. Lots of spots in the low to mid 70s. Feeling comfortable with a breeze and this afternoon 84, breezy and warm. We still have rip currents and heavy surf at the shore and a bit more coastal flooding. Rosh hashanah arrives at sundown. Tomorrow very warm and humid 86. 84 with autumn arriving on friday and mid 80s on saturday and 89 degrees for a high on sunday. Wow, tam. Wow indeed. Coming up on action news at noon, the latest on Hurricane Maria making landfall in puerto rico and where the storm is likely headed next. Were also checking out the beach erosion at the jersey shore after a brush with hurricane jose. But right now time for a little fun with kelly and ryan right here on 6abc. Im tamala edwards. Have a great wednesday. Fran grenier. New jersey born and raised. Like his father before him, he served our country with honor in the navy. Came home and worked his way up from floor technician to supervisor at the salem power plant. As a husband and father, grenier knows how families struggle to make ends meet. Thats why hell fight to cut our taxes, and stand up to career politicians like steve sweeney. If we want to change trenton, theres only one way. Fran grenier. Announcer its live with kelly and ryan today, from the new film, ben stiller. And ryan teaches kelly how to be a radio dj as we continue lives do it week. And, comments and questions with another edition of the inbox. All next on live [cheers and applause] and now, here are kelly ripa and Ryan Seacrest [cheers and applause] kelly hi. Ryan