overwhelming moment emotionally because i was connecting with all that bruce was going through and at the same time feeling a bit of a burden for where this might go. this turned out to be, sanjay, a key to the idea of a council, which is, it s a burden. he s a dad. all accept for one of these men is a dad. they have busy lives. they ve got their own families, they ve got their own kids. so i wasn t, in effect, giving them my kids. i was saying, will you just be there, will you take this one side of me and will you convey them that idea. reporter: jeff would capture bruce s adventurous side. part vermont farmer, part world traveler. jeff is as comfortable driving a tractor and shearing sheep as he is exploring the catacombs of paris. his philosophy, get off the beaten track. that s a style that immediately connected for an 18-year-old bruce. i can remember us hiking
it s in the air every day, every moment, should it come back, we ll be there for him. the postcards will come back. so tell jeff who came to visit in the past reporter: but for now, they live in the moment. april 15th, 2010, eden and tybee s 5th birthday, the the counsel has convened in brooklyn to celebrate life and the very special community bruce has built for his girls. dear tybee and eden, we never know when our last word may come, so i beg of you, be washed in love every day, with family, with friends, with your counsel of dads. and whatever adventures your take, i ll be whispering in your
while a titanium prosthesis to replace the diseased thigh bone was painstakingly developed, bruce suffered through rounds of chemo to disrupt the tumor. for 4 1/2 months, pneumonia, ear infections, dozens of pounds lost, three hospitalizations. i could just feel my body sort of slipping away. reporter: even as bruce was fighting for his life, the counsel of dads rallied around the family. some with daily phone calls, others weekly visits. jeff shumlen had a different tactic, one postcard a day every single day for a year. reporter: that s a lot of postcards to see them all like this, what s that like? i have to say, it s it s impressive to walk in here and see these postcards on the desk. i wanted bruce to know that i was with him. reporter: bruce needed those postcards. the hardest part was about to come.
will you help be their dad? reporter: sick, scared, 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 putney, vermont, the home of childhood friend jeff shumlen. he said to me before coming up, 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 heartbeat i said, bruce, absolutely, yes, you can count on me for anything. but it really was an
through the swiss alps singing gospel songs at the top of our lungs. being a traveler involves diving truly into the culture that you re visiting. it means interacting with a country s people. it means trying its foods. it means listening to its music. reporter: and that s the spirit bruce wanted jeff to teach eden and tybee. i will get them out of their comfort zone and help them see the world. reporter: it would take five more men to complete the council. childhood buddy ben edwards to show the girls where their dad came from. college roommate max styer to help them live life with passion. poet josh ramo to make them take time to reflect on life. business partner david black, to teach them to never give up, and close confidant ben sherwood