Up next, a story of brotherly love
and teamwork amidst the most trying of circumstances.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's race day,
which means it's time for 11-year-old Noah Aldrich
to ditch his glasses for his goggles.
Noah is getting ready to compete in a triathlon,
which means after swimming, he'll have to bike, then run.
-How are you feeling? -Um, good?
A little nervous?
-More excited than nervous. -Yeah?
What is your strategy for the swim?
I try to start off slow so I can conserve my energy
and not use it all at once.
O'BRIEN: He might sound like an old pro,
but the truth is, Noah already knows
he's not going to win.
In fact, he won't even come close.
O'BRIEN: Go Noah! Woohoo!
O'BRIEN: Do you think you're a good athlete?
Yeah, I try to be.
What slows you down?
Definitely a lot of the stuff I'm pulling behind me.
O'BRIEN: Noah is only half the equation
in this competition.
The other half is his little brother Lucas
who was born with a severe disability,
and lacks the ability to move or speak.
The races start in the water, whether a pool or a pond...
ALL: Three, two, one!
-MAN: Go! -(CROWD CHEERING)
O'BRIEN: Noah attaches himself to the raft,
and pulls Lucas for a 200-yard swim.
(CHEERING)
O'BRIEN: Then, Noah hits the road
and pedals with his brother for five miles.
-(CROWD CHEERING) -WOMAN: Good job! Good job!
O'BRIEN: And on the final leg, he pushes Lucas for one mile
before they cross the finish line.
MAN: There we go. There's a finisher right there.
O'BRIEN: It's quite a heavy load for a fifth grader.
So do the math for me.
Lucas weighs anywhere from 60 to 70 pounds.
I way about 75 pounds.
And... the cart weighs 50 pounds.
So I'm pulling over 100 pounds usually.
That's a lot.
It can be hard,
but I just look back and see Lucas's smile,
and it just... kind of fuels me up to keep going.
O'BRIEN: That smile is one of the only ways
that Lucas can communicate.
He was born with a severe brain malformation
called lissencephaly,
that has not only left him effectively frozen
in his own body,
but is also expected to end his life
sooner than later,
which means the brothers are not just racing
against the competition, but time itself.
Brian and Alissa Aldrich were given the stunning news
by their doctor when Lucas was just months old.
He told us that Lucas would never walk,
he'd never talk,
that he had an 80% chance of having seizures,
and, most importantly, he gave us a prognosis
that Lucas would probably have a 50/50 chance
that he would make it to ten.
And how old is he now?
-Nine. Yeah. -Nine and a half.
O'BRIEN: Children with the disease can have
a weakened immune system,
which means routine viruses,
colds, or seasonal flus can be deadly.
It's why some children with Lucas's disease
are kept away from any unnecessary exposure to the world.
It was a choice the Aldrich's doctor
told them they'd have to make for themselves.
ALISSA ALDRICH: He said 50% of the people that I see,
the parents will go home, they'll keep them in a box,
they'll keep them safe,
they'll keep them contained, away from germs.
The other half go home and take their children out
and experience life.
And Brian and I didn't even have to...
Yeah, we knew what we were gonna do.
...look at each other.
We decided, "You know what? We're gonna go home
and we're gonna do everything we can with that little boy."
Because I know if it was me in his condition
and his situation,
I wouldn't want to be locked up
in a house just waiting to die.
O'BRIEN: So they raised Lucas just like his big brother Noah.
Everywhere he went, Lucas went.
Everything that Noah tried, Lucas tried too.
ALISSA: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: It wasn't easy.
Alissa quit her job as a project manager
to become a full-time caretaker.
-Ready for this part? -(SIGHS)
(TOOTHBRUSH WHIRRING)
O'BRIEN: The most routine tasks can take hours with their son.
It requires a full commitment from the entire family.
Noah is one of the few 11-year-olds
whose an expert in working a feeding tube.
But over the last nine and a half years,
Brian and Alissa have watched their boys
become inseparable. Even best friends.
Communicating in their own special way.
We wanted to learn more about Lucas,
so we got some answers
with a little help from his big brother.
Lucas, what games do you and Noah like playing together?
What's your favorite that we play?
We do some battles together
with all, like, the Nerf guns and stuff.
Nerf gun wars, okay.
-NOAH: Yeah. -What else?
-We also have sword fights. -O'BRIEN: Uh-huh.
-Oh, that got a big smile. -Yeah.
He must like sword fights.
I think he likes the sword fights the most.
Somebody might say, "How do you do that with your brother?
How does he play Nerf guns?"
(NERF GUN POPS)
NOAH ALDRICH: It kind of takes a lot of imagination,
but he just likes being part of it.
-(SQUEALS EXCITEDLY) -Good game, Lucas. Good game.
O'BRIEN: You guys seem very physically close.
Like you hold his hand a lot when you're talking.
-Yeah. -Why's that?
Well, just, first of all, his hands are really soft.
And...
I feel like I just have a need to protect him a little bit.
Oh, that was amazing, Lucas. You're so good at this game.
O'BRIEN: Despite the brothers' closeness,
there was one thing it seemed they could never do together,
play sports.
For Brian Aldrich, it was one of the most painful parts
of learning about Lucas's illness.
I have a brother that's the same age
as the difference between Noah and Lucas,
and I had this picture of Noah and Lucas growing up
like my brother and I did. We're best friends.
Playing, and sports, and this,
and it's just like... (EXHALES) gone.
O'BRIEN: Until a few years ago, when the family saw a video
of a pair of brothers who competed
in triathlons together, and Noah had an idea.
He just turned to me and he said,
"Mom, I want to do that with Lucas."
And that was it.
Did you ever want to do triathlons before then?
Definitely not. I never thought of that at all.
I didn't even know what a triathlon was.
I mean, a triathlon--
A triathlon, taking nobody, is hard.
O'BRIEN: Why would you wanna do that?
Well, Lucas can't do sports like I can and stuff.
And I thought it would be good for him to participate
in stuff too.
O'BRIEN: So the brothers signed up for a youth triathlon
in their hometown of Boise, Idaho.
There was just one problem.
I realized I couldn't swim very well.
You didn't know you couldn't swim?
I thought I could swim fairly well,
but... I got in the pool, and I failed miserably.
O'BRIEN: That's when the brothers met Kevin Everett,
a coach at the local YMCA.
O'BRIEN: When two boys show up and decide they want
to start doing triathlons...
oh, one of them can't swim,
and the other one's in a wheelchair.
-Right. -Why would you say yes to that?
I thought other people would probably go,
"No, that's not possible."
But I certainly didn't want to be that person.
O'BRIEN: Everett not only helped Noah with his strokes,
he introduced Lucas to the water, too.
And within weeks,
the brothers were ready for their first triathlon.
Were you worried?
I wasn't really worried till he jumped in the pond
in that first triathlon.
I was... petrified. It was like, "What are we doing?"
(LAUGHING)
(CROWD CHEERING)
O'BRIEN: Noah and Lucas together were fearless.
And Brian and Alissa helped the boys
transition safely to each event.
BRIAN ALDRICH: I went from, you know, a nervous wreck
to absolute joy of, like, what my sons had accomplished.
And the most incredible thing I think was after the race,
Lucas would not keep his eyes off Noah.
He looked at him, he followed him everywhere.
He was just that look of love.
Like, you could tell that he knew he did something
that kids like him don't ever get to do.
(CROWD CHEERING)
O'BRIEN: That first race led to a second and a third,
and now the brothers compete all the time.
Every race is an endurance test for both brothers,
especially Lucas, who is competing
with a weak respiratory and immune system,
risking his health on every single ride.
But the Aldriches say the memories have been worth it,
and that Lucas is happiest when he's out on the course
with his best friend.
He even has some tips for his older brother.
Lucas, do you think Noah should go a little faster?
-For sure. -(LAUGHS)
Do you get the feeling that he wants you to go faster?
How do you know?
Well, he-- I just look back at him...
-Mm-hmm. -and he just has this look in his eyes.
It's kind of, like, bored.
"This is just not fun. I want more."
NOAH: So I know that's when he wants me to go faster.
O'BRIEN: Do you ever think about quitting in the race?
-NOAH: Never. -You never think about quitting?
No. It'd make Lucas so sad if we just stopped
right in the middle of the race.
Is he ever just worn out doing triathlons
with a 100-pound rig attached to him?
He never complains.
I think he just thinks about Lucas, honestly,
and what he's doing for him.
O'BRIEN: Noah remains dedicated to the sport for his brother.
They practice twice a week, always together.
And Noah gives it all he's got.
All that work has made Noah strong.
Strong enough, in fact, that he might well win
if he competed on his own.
O'BRIEN: Noah's an athletic little kid.
Absolutely. He could do this on his own,
and do very well, and maybe win the race.
But he does it with his brother.
As long as Lucas is having fun, I'm having fun,
and I don't care if we come in first or second,
or any place at all.
As long as we finish the race and we're both happy.
O'BRIEN: Noah can protect his brother on the track,
but Lucas fights his health battles alone.
Last summer, Lucas spent weeks in the hospital
recovering from hernia surgery.
In the fall, he suffered grand mal seizures.
Today he's dealing with painful scoliosis
and has trouble breathing.
The age ten always felt far away until now.
Now that we're reaching that point,
you know, ultimately we don't know
-how long he will live. -I mean, this is tou--
I mean, every morning we get up and walk in his room
and hope to God he's still breathing,
because a lot of times that's how these kids go.
They just pass in the middle of the night.
Can you imagine life without him?
No. Yeah.
What I always think about is just...
I'll never look back and regret...
anything that we've done.
Like, we've made memories for a lifetime.
Yeah, we've created a legacy for Lucas.
And what about imagining a life...
where Noah doesn't have Lucas?
-(SOFTLY) Yeah. -(CHUCKLES)
Yeah. That's...
Well, it's hard to think about. I mean, it's one thing--
It's one thing for us to think about our lives
without Lucas, but Noah and their bond, and...
I mean, even at that young age, they've always been inseparable.
ALISSA: All right! Go Noah! Go Lucas!
O'BRIEN: We were with the Aldriches
at their first triathlon of the season.
A two day event, an indoor swim...
MAN: Noah and Lucas Aldrich!
O'BRIEN: ...followed by a rainy day of competition.
Noah says the slippery conditions
made it their most challenging race yet.
The hilly dirt roads also put him to the test
and made for a very bumpy ride for his brother.
(LUCAS GROANS)
NOAH: I know, I know.
-(CROWD CHEERING) -BRIAN: Yeah! Woohoo!
O'BRIEN: But they managed to finish the race like always.
You laughing at your brother?
O'BRIEN: For now, Noah is focusing on the future.
The future he's hoping to share with his little brother.
He believes there's still time left for him
and his best friend.
Do you ever think about a time
when maybe you're running triathlons
and Lucas isn't around?
(SIGHS) I try not to think of that at all.
But I like to think that we'll be doing triathlons
for a while, together.
We're hoping he will make it to way past ten.
But my goal in the end is to do an Ironman with Lucas,
which is a really big triathlon.
Do you think you're gonna make that goal?
For sure.
We have been training for so long,
I think if we just keep trying
and doing triathlons together, we can make it.
Thanks for watching.
You can catch the rest of the latest edition
of Real Sports all month long on HBO.
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