1
00:00:00,639 --> 00:00:02,378
Well, good afternoon.

2
00:00:02,378 --> 00:00:04,393
How many of you

3
00:00:04,393 --> 00:00:07,160
took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?

4
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:08,690
(Applause)

5
00:00:08,690 --> 00:00:10,950
Woo hoo!

6
00:00:10,950 --> 00:00:14,038
Well I have to tell you, from the bottom of our hearts,

7
00:00:14,038 --> 00:00:16,818
thank you so very, very much.

8
00:00:16,818 --> 00:00:19,469
Do you know to date the ALS Association

9
00:00:19,469 --> 00:00:24,787
has raised 125 million dollars?

10
00:00:24,787 --> 00:00:28,363
Woo hoo! (Applause)

11
00:00:31,239 --> 00:00:34,513
So it takes me back to the summer of 2011.

12
00:00:34,513 --> 00:00:36,602
My family, my kids had all grown up.

13
00:00:36,602 --> 00:00:38,228
We were officially empty-nesters,

14
00:00:38,228 --> 00:00:41,619
and we decided, let's go on a family vacation.

15
00:00:41,619 --> 00:00:43,306
Jen, my daughter, my son-in-law,

16
00:00:43,306 --> 00:00:44,880
came down from New York.

17
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:46,342
My youngest, Andrew,

18
00:00:46,342 --> 00:00:48,897
he came down from his home in Charlestown

19
00:00:48,897 --> 00:00:50,675
where he was working on Boston,

20
00:00:50,675 --> 00:00:51,916
and my son Pete,

21
00:00:51,916 --> 00:00:54,858
who had played at Boston College, baseball,

22
00:00:54,858 --> 00:00:57,682
had played baseball professionally in Europe,

23
00:00:57,682 --> 00:01:00,019
and had now come home and was selling

24
00:01:00,019 --> 00:01:02,767
group insurance, he also joined us.

25
00:01:02,767 --> 00:01:03,981
And one night, I found myself

26
00:01:03,981 --> 00:01:05,602
having a beer with Pete,

27
00:01:05,602 --> 00:01:08,270
and Pete was looking at me and he just said,

28
00:01:08,270 --> 00:01:10,460
"You know, mom, I don't know,

29
00:01:10,460 --> 00:01:14,459
selling group insurance is just not my passion."

30
00:01:14,459 --> 00:01:20,087
He said, "I just don't feel I'm living up to my potential.

31
00:01:20,087 --> 00:01:23,266
I don't feel this is my mission in life."

32
00:01:23,266 --> 00:01:26,707
And he said, "You know, oh by the way, mom,

33
00:01:26,707 --> 00:01:29,512
I have to leave early from vacation

34
00:01:29,512 --> 00:01:33,120
because my inter city league team that I play for

35
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,716
made the playoffs, and I have to get back to Boston

36
00:01:35,716 --> 00:01:38,925
because I can't let my team down.

37
00:01:38,925 --> 00:01:41,880
I'm just not as passionate about my job

38
00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,146
as I am about baseball."

39
00:01:44,146 --> 00:01:47,269
So off Pete went, and left the family vacation

40
00:01:47,269 --> 00:01:48,985
— break a mother's heart —

41
00:01:48,985 --> 00:01:53,297
and he went, and we followed four days later

42
00:01:53,297 --> 00:01:55,943
to see the next playoff game.

43
00:01:55,943 --> 00:01:58,573
We're at the playoff game, Pete's at the plate,

44
00:01:58,573 --> 00:02:00,974
and a fastball's coming in,

45
00:02:00,974 --> 00:02:03,290
and it hits him on the wrist.

46
00:02:03,290 --> 00:02:05,540
Oh, Pete.

47
00:02:05,540 --> 00:02:08,274
His wrist went completely limp, like this.

48
00:02:08,274 --> 00:02:09,790
So for the next six months,

49
00:02:09,790 --> 00:02:12,470
Pete went back to his home in Southie,

50
00:02:12,470 --> 00:02:15,507
kept working that unpassionate job,

51
00:02:15,507 --> 00:02:16,813
and was going to doctors

52
00:02:16,813 --> 00:02:18,686
to see what was wrong with this wrist

53
00:02:18,686 --> 00:02:20,836
that never came back.

54
00:02:20,836 --> 00:02:22,762
Six months later, in March,

55
00:02:22,762 --> 00:02:24,485
he called my husband and I, and he said,

56
00:02:24,485 --> 00:02:26,487
"Oh, mom and dad, we have a doctor

57
00:02:26,487 --> 00:02:29,761
that found a diagnosis for that wrist.

58
00:02:29,761 --> 00:02:32,357
Do you want to come with the
doctor's appointment with me?"

59
00:02:32,357 --> 00:02:34,620
I said, "Sure, we'll come in."

60
00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:37,736
That morning, Pete, John, and I

61
00:02:37,736 --> 00:02:40,234
all got up, got dressed, got in our cars,

62
00:02:40,234 --> 00:02:41,571
three separate cars

63
00:02:41,571 --> 00:02:43,518
because we were going to go to work

64
00:02:43,518 --> 00:02:46,027
after the doctor's appointment to
find out what happened to the wrist.

65
00:02:46,027 --> 00:02:49,109
We walked into the neurologist's office, sat down,

66
00:02:49,109 --> 00:02:50,976
four doctors walk in

67
00:02:50,976 --> 00:02:53,170
and the head neurologist sits down,

68
00:02:53,170 --> 00:02:56,060
and he says, "Well, Pete, we've
been looking at all the tests,

69
00:02:56,060 --> 00:02:59,473
and I have to tell you, it's not a sprained wrist,

70
00:02:59,473 --> 00:03:01,854
it's not a broken wrist,

71
00:03:01,854 --> 00:03:03,900
it's not nerve damage in the wrist,

72
00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:05,712
it's not an infection,

73
00:03:05,712 --> 00:03:09,480
it's not Lyme disease."

74
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,140
And there was this deliberate elimination going up,

75
00:03:13,140 --> 00:03:14,723
and I was thinking to myself,

76
00:03:14,723 --> 00:03:18,040
where is he going with this?

77
00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,210
Then he put his hands on his knees,

78
00:03:20,210 --> 00:03:23,361
he looked right at my 27-year old kid, and said,

79
00:03:23,361 --> 00:03:26,577
"I don't know how to tell a 27-year old this:

80
00:03:26,577 --> 00:03:30,902
Pete, you have ALS."

81
00:03:30,902 --> 00:03:32,654
ALS?

82
00:03:32,654 --> 00:03:37,379
I had had a friend whose 80-year old father had ALS.

83
00:03:37,379 --> 00:03:39,440
I looked at my husband, he looked at me,

84
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,982
and then we looked at the doctor, and we said, "ALS?

85
00:03:41,982 --> 00:03:44,218
Okay, what treatment? Let's go.

86
00:03:44,218 --> 00:03:47,523
What do we do? Let's go."

87
00:03:47,523 --> 00:03:50,407
And he looked at us, and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Frates,

88
00:03:50,407 --> 00:03:52,356
I'm sorry to tell you this,

89
00:03:52,356 --> 00:03:56,884
but there's no treatment and there's no cure."

90
00:03:56,884 --> 00:03:59,729
We were the worst culprits.

91
00:03:59,729 --> 00:04:02,264
We didn't even understand

92
00:04:02,264 --> 00:04:04,313
that it had been 75 years since Lou Gehrig

93
00:04:04,313 --> 00:04:06,880
and nothing had been done in the progress

94
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,935
against ALS.

95
00:04:09,935 --> 00:04:12,975
So we all went home, and Jen and Dan

96
00:04:12,975 --> 00:04:15,166
flew home from Wall Street,

97
00:04:15,166 --> 00:04:17,787
Andrew came home from Charlestown,

98
00:04:17,787 --> 00:04:20,217
and Pete went to BC to pick up

99
00:04:20,217 --> 00:04:23,436
his then-girlfriend Julie and and brought her home,

100
00:04:23,436 --> 00:04:25,369
and six hours later after diagnosis,

101
00:04:25,369 --> 00:04:28,125
we're sitting around having a family dinner,

102
00:04:28,125 --> 00:04:30,460
and we're having small chat.

103
00:04:30,460 --> 00:04:33,279
I don't even remember cooking dinner that night.

104
00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,103
But then, our leader, Pete,

105
00:04:37,103 --> 00:04:39,756
set the vision

106
00:04:39,756 --> 00:04:42,802
and talked to us just like we were his new team.

107
00:04:42,802 --> 00:04:46,493
He said, "There will be no wallowing, people."

108
00:04:46,493 --> 00:04:48,814
He goes, "We're not looking back,

109
00:04:48,814 --> 00:04:50,869
we're looking forward.

110
00:04:50,869 --> 00:04:54,143
What an amazing opportunity we have

111
00:04:54,143 --> 00:04:56,742
to change the world.

112
00:04:56,742 --> 00:04:58,958
I'm going to change the face

113
00:04:58,958 --> 00:05:02,441
of this unacceptable situation of ALS.

114
00:05:02,441 --> 00:05:03,969
We're going to move the needle,

115
00:05:03,969 --> 00:05:08,393
and I'm going to get it in front
of philanthropists like Bill Gates."

116
00:05:08,393 --> 00:05:11,899
And that was it. We were given our directive.

117
00:05:11,899 --> 00:05:14,130
So in the days and months that followed,

118
00:05:14,130 --> 00:05:17,417
within a week, we had our brothers and sisters

119
00:05:17,417 --> 00:05:19,568
and our family come to us,

120
00:05:19,568 --> 00:05:22,063
that they were already creating Team Frate Train.

121
00:05:22,063 --> 00:05:24,971
Uncle Dave, he was the webmaster,

122
00:05:24,971 --> 00:05:27,318
Uncle Artie, he was the accountant,

123
00:05:27,318 --> 00:05:30,097
Auntie Dana, she was the graphic artist,

124
00:05:30,097 --> 00:05:32,648
and my youngest son Andrew

125
00:05:32,648 --> 00:05:35,635
quit his job, left his apartment in Charlestown

126
00:05:35,635 --> 00:05:37,451
and says, "I'm going to take care of Pete

127
00:05:37,451 --> 00:05:39,595
and be his caregiver."

128
00:05:39,595 --> 00:05:42,942
Then all those people, classmates, teammates,

129
00:05:42,942 --> 00:05:45,449
coworkers, that Pete had inspired

130
00:05:45,449 --> 00:05:47,607
throughout his whole life,

131
00:05:47,607 --> 00:05:51,715
the circles of Pete all started
intersecting with one another,

132
00:05:51,715 --> 00:05:55,959
and made Team Frate Train.

133
00:05:55,959 --> 00:05:58,060
Six months after diagnosis,

134
00:05:58,060 --> 00:06:01,687
Pete was given an award at a research summit

135
00:06:01,687 --> 00:06:03,041
for advocacy.

136
00:06:03,041 --> 00:06:05,976
He got up and gave a very eloquent speech,

137
00:06:05,976 --> 00:06:08,582
and at the end of the speech, there was a panel,

138
00:06:08,582 --> 00:06:11,480
and on the panel were these
pharmaceutical executives

139
00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,350
and biochemists and clinicians

140
00:06:14,350 --> 00:06:16,260
and I'm sitting there and I'm listening to them

141
00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:19,482
and most of the content went straight over my head.

142
00:06:19,482 --> 00:06:22,420
I avoided every science class I ever could.

143
00:06:22,420 --> 00:06:24,654
But I was watching these people,
and I was listening to them,

144
00:06:24,654 --> 00:06:27,388
and they were saying, "I, I do this, I do that,"

145
00:06:27,388 --> 00:06:31,319
and there was a real unfamiliarity between them.

146
00:06:31,319 --> 00:06:34,632
So at the end of their talk, the panel,

147
00:06:34,632 --> 00:06:36,465
they had questions and answers,

148
00:06:36,465 --> 00:06:38,682
and boom, my hand went right up,

149
00:06:38,682 --> 00:06:39,867
and I get the microphone,

150
00:06:39,867 --> 00:06:41,651
and I look at them and I say, "Thank you.

151
00:06:41,651 --> 00:06:44,270
Thank you so much for working in ALS.

152
00:06:44,270 --> 00:06:45,995
It means so very much to us."

153
00:06:45,995 --> 00:06:47,800
I said, "But I do have to tell you

154
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:49,741
that I'm watching your body language

155
00:06:49,741 --> 00:06:51,862
and I'm listening to what you're saying.

156
00:06:51,862 --> 00:06:53,833
It just doesn't seem like there's a whole lot

157
00:06:53,833 --> 00:06:57,214
of collaboration going on here.

158
00:06:57,214 --> 00:07:00,375
And not only that, where's the flip chart

159
00:07:00,375 --> 00:07:03,367
with, like, the action items and the follow-up

160
00:07:03,367 --> 00:07:05,137
and the accountability?

161
00:07:05,137 --> 00:07:09,149
What are you going to do after you leave this room?"

162
00:07:09,149 --> 00:07:11,984
And then I turned around

163
00:07:11,984 --> 00:07:15,540
and there was about 200 pairs of eyes

164
00:07:15,540 --> 00:07:18,745
just staring at me.

165
00:07:18,745 --> 00:07:22,310
And it was that point that I realized

166
00:07:22,310 --> 00:07:26,781
that I had talked about the elephant in the room.

167
00:07:26,781 --> 00:07:29,892
Thus my mission had begun.

168
00:07:29,892 --> 00:07:32,862
So over the next couple of years,

169
00:07:32,862 --> 00:07:35,890
Pete, we've had our highs and our lows.

170
00:07:35,890 --> 00:07:37,938
Pete was put on a [???] youth drug.

171
00:07:37,938 --> 00:07:41,121
It was hope in a bottle for the whole ALS community.

172
00:07:41,121 --> 00:07:43,330
It was in a phase three trial.

173
00:07:43,330 --> 00:07:46,176
Then, six months later, the data comes back:

174
00:07:46,176 --> 00:07:47,917
no efficacy.

175
00:07:47,917 --> 00:07:50,388
We were supposed to have therapies overseas,

176
00:07:50,388 --> 00:07:52,537
and the rug was pulled out of us.

177
00:07:52,537 --> 00:07:54,482
So for the next two years,

178
00:07:54,482 --> 00:07:58,764
we just watched my son be taken away from me,

179
00:07:58,764 --> 00:08:02,435
little by little every day.

180
00:08:02,435 --> 00:08:04,952
Two and a half years ago,

181
00:08:04,952 --> 00:08:08,110
Pete was hitting home runs at baseball fields.

182
00:08:08,110 --> 00:08:12,100
Today, Pete's completely paralyzed.

183
00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:14,306
He can't hold his head up any longer.

184
00:08:14,306 --> 00:08:16,920
He's confined to a motorized wheelchair.

185
00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,138
He can no longer swallow or eat.

186
00:08:19,138 --> 00:08:21,033
He has a feeding tube.

187
00:08:21,033 --> 00:08:23,698
He can't speak.

188
00:08:25,239 --> 00:08:28,775
He talks with eye gazer technology

189
00:08:28,775 --> 00:08:30,726
and a speech generating device,

190
00:08:30,726 --> 00:08:32,195
and we're watching his lungs,

191
00:08:32,195 --> 00:08:35,450
because his diaphragm eventually is going to give out

192
00:08:35,450 --> 00:08:36,868
and then the decision will be made

193
00:08:36,868 --> 00:08:40,520
to put him on a ventilator or not.

194
00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,116
ALS robs the human

195
00:08:42,116 --> 00:08:45,840
of all their physical parts,

196
00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,630
but the brain stays intact.

197
00:08:50,630 --> 00:08:54,207
So, July 4th, 2014,

198
00:08:54,207 --> 00:08:58,615
75th year of Lou Gehrig's inspirational speech comes,

199
00:08:58,615 --> 00:09:00,929
and Pete is asked by MLB.com to write

200
00:09:00,929 --> 00:09:04,461
an article in the Bleacher Report,

201
00:09:04,461 --> 00:09:06,812
and it was very significant, because he wrote it

202
00:09:06,812 --> 00:09:11,241
using his eye gazer technology.

203
00:09:11,241 --> 00:09:17,501
Twenty days later, the ice started to fall.

204
00:09:17,501 --> 00:09:22,176
On July 27th, Pete's roommate in New York City,

205
00:09:22,176 --> 00:09:24,785
wearing a Quinn For The Win shirt,

206
00:09:24,785 --> 00:09:26,945
signifying Pat Quinn, another ALS patient

207
00:09:26,945 --> 00:09:28,632
[????],

208
00:09:28,632 --> 00:09:30,686
and B.C. shorts

209
00:09:30,686 --> 00:09:35,178
said, "I'm taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,"

210
00:09:35,178 --> 00:09:37,958
picked up the ice, put it over his head,

211
00:09:37,958 --> 00:09:42,166
"And I'm nominating..." and he sent it up to Boston.

212
00:09:42,166 --> 00:09:45,590
And that was on July 27th.

213
00:09:45,590 --> 00:09:48,161
Over the next couple of days, our news feed

214
00:09:48,161 --> 00:09:50,696
was full of family and friends.

215
00:09:50,696 --> 00:09:53,374
If you haven't gone back,
the nice thing about Facebook

216
00:09:53,374 --> 00:09:55,587
is that you have the dates, you can go back.

217
00:09:55,587 --> 00:09:59,558
You gotta see Uncle Artie's human bloody Mary.

218
00:09:59,558 --> 00:10:02,704
I'm telling you, it's one of the best ones,

219
00:10:02,704 --> 00:10:05,666
and that was probably in day two.

220
00:10:05,666 --> 00:10:09,636
By about day four, Uncle Dave, the webmaster,

221
00:10:09,636 --> 00:10:11,609
yeah, he isn't on Facebook,

222
00:10:11,609 --> 00:10:14,496
and I get a text from him, and it says, "Nancy,

223
00:10:14,496 --> 00:10:17,390
what the hell is going on?"

224
00:10:17,390 --> 00:10:20,987
Uncle Dave gets a hit every time Pete's website

225
00:10:20,987 --> 00:10:24,470
is gone onto, and his phone was blowing up.

226
00:10:24,470 --> 00:10:25,865
So we all sat down and we realized,

227
00:10:25,865 --> 00:10:29,717
money, money is coming in, how amazing.

228
00:10:29,717 --> 00:10:32,261
So we knew awareness would lead to funding,

229
00:10:32,261 --> 00:10:35,239
we just didn't know it would
only take a couple of days.

230
00:10:35,239 --> 00:10:38,546
so we got together, put our best 501c3's

231
00:10:38,546 --> 00:10:42,505
on Pete's website, and off we went.

232
00:10:42,505 --> 00:10:45,686
So week one, Boston media.

233
00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:48,594
Week two, national media.

234
00:10:48,594 --> 00:10:50,448
It was during week two that our neighbor next door

235
00:10:50,448 --> 00:10:53,000
opened up our door and threw a pizza

236
00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,360
across the kitchen floor, saying,

237
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,299
"I think you people might need food in there."

238
00:10:58,299 --> 00:11:00,504
(Laughter)

239
00:11:00,504 --> 00:11:04,860
Week three, celebrities: Entertainment Tonight,

240
00:11:04,860 --> 00:11:06,586
Access Hollywood.

241
00:11:06,586 --> 00:11:12,971
Week four, global: BBC, Irish Radio.

242
00:11:12,971 --> 00:11:15,663
Did anyone see Lost In Translation?

243
00:11:15,663 --> 00:11:17,852
My husband did Japanese television.

244
00:11:17,852 --> 00:11:19,562
It was interesting.

245
00:11:19,562 --> 00:11:21,614
(Laughter)

246
00:11:21,614 --> 00:11:24,156
And those videos, those videos,

247
00:11:24,156 --> 00:11:27,700
the popular ones.

248
00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:31,864
Paul Bissonnette's glacier video, incredible.

249
00:11:31,864 --> 00:11:34,601
How about the redemption nuns of Dublin?

250
00:11:34,601 --> 00:11:36,306
Who's seen that one?

251
00:11:36,306 --> 00:11:38,893
It's absolutely fantastic.

252
00:11:38,893 --> 00:11:41,110
J.T., Justin Timberlake.

253
00:11:41,110 --> 00:11:44,879
That's what we knew, that was a real A-List celebrity,

254
00:11:44,879 --> 00:11:47,770
and I go back on my texts, and I can see

255
00:11:47,770 --> 00:11:52,902
"JT! JT!" My sister, texting me.

256
00:11:52,902 --> 00:11:56,150
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.

257
00:11:56,150 --> 00:11:58,516
Incredible.

258
00:11:58,516 --> 00:12:00,266
And the ALS patients,

259
00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:03,460
you know what their favorite
ones are, and their families?

260
00:12:03,460 --> 00:12:05,050
All of them,

261
00:12:05,050 --> 00:12:07,858
because this misunderstood and underfunded

262
00:12:07,858 --> 00:12:10,058
"rare" disease,

263
00:12:10,058 --> 00:12:12,618
they just sat and watched people saying it

264
00:12:12,618 --> 00:12:16,771
over and over, "ALS, ALS."

265
00:12:16,771 --> 00:12:19,587
It was unbelievable.

266
00:12:19,587 --> 00:12:21,630
And those naysayers,

267
00:12:21,630 --> 00:12:24,469
let's just talk a couple of stats, shall we?

268
00:12:24,469 --> 00:12:27,107
Okay, so the ALS Association,

269
00:12:27,107 --> 00:12:28,634
they think by year end,

270
00:12:28,634 --> 00:12:31,255
it'll be 160 million dollars.

271
00:12:31,255 --> 00:12:33,649
ALS TDI in Cambridge,

272
00:12:33,649 --> 00:12:35,701
they raised three million dollars.

273
00:12:35,701 --> 00:12:37,143
Well, guess what?

274
00:12:37,143 --> 00:12:38,937
They had a clinical trial for a drug

275
00:12:38,937 --> 00:12:40,535
that they've been developing.

276
00:12:40,535 --> 00:12:43,553
It was on a three year track for funding.

277
00:12:43,553 --> 00:12:45,040
Two months.

278
00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:46,828
It's coming out, starting in two months.

279
00:12:46,828 --> 00:12:51,268
(Applause)

280
00:12:53,791 --> 00:12:58,806
And YouTube has reported

281
00:12:58,806 --> 00:13:02,554
that over 150 countries have posted

282
00:13:02,554 --> 00:13:05,994
Ice Bucket Challenges for ALS.

283
00:13:05,994 --> 00:13:12,455
And Facebook, 2.5 million videos,

284
00:13:12,455 --> 00:13:15,570
and I had the awesome adventure

285
00:13:15,570 --> 00:13:18,740
visiting the Facebook campus last week,

286
00:13:18,740 --> 00:13:20,707
and I said to them, "I know
what it was like in my house.

287
00:13:20,707 --> 00:13:23,677
I can't imagine what it was like around here."

288
00:13:23,677 --> 00:13:28,390
All she said was, "Jaw-dropping."

289
00:13:28,390 --> 00:13:33,370
And my family's favorite video?

290
00:13:33,370 --> 00:13:36,576
Bill Gates,

291
00:13:36,576 --> 00:13:39,659
because the night Pete was diagnosed,

292
00:13:39,659 --> 00:13:42,784
he told us that he was going to get ALS

293
00:13:42,784 --> 00:13:47,456
in front of philanthropists like Bill Gates,

294
00:13:47,456 --> 00:13:48,790
and he did it.

295
00:13:48,790 --> 00:13:51,260
Goal number one, check.

296
00:13:51,260 --> 00:13:53,203
Now on to the treatment and cure.

297
00:13:53,203 --> 00:13:59,498
(Applause)

298
00:14:02,775 --> 00:14:05,829
So okay, after all of this ice,

299
00:14:05,829 --> 00:14:07,725
we know that it was much more

300
00:14:07,725 --> 00:14:10,927
than just pouring buckets of ice water over your head,

301
00:14:10,927 --> 00:14:12,375
and I really would like to leave you

302
00:14:12,375 --> 00:14:15,289
with a couple of things that I'd like you to remember.

303
00:14:15,289 --> 00:14:16,964
The first thing is,

304
00:14:16,964 --> 00:14:19,190
every morning when you wake up,

305
00:14:19,190 --> 00:14:22,266
you can choose to live your day

306
00:14:22,266 --> 00:14:24,249
in positivity.

307
00:14:24,249 --> 00:14:26,520
Would any of you blame me

308
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,859
if I just was in the fetal position

309
00:14:28,859 --> 00:14:32,416
and pulled the covers over my head every day?

310
00:14:32,416 --> 00:14:34,308
No, I don't think anybody would blame me,

311
00:14:34,308 --> 00:14:37,550
but Pete has inspired us to wake up

312
00:14:37,550 --> 00:14:40,496
every morning and be positive and proactive.

313
00:14:40,496 --> 00:14:43,300
I actually had to ditch support groups

314
00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:45,779
because everybody was in there saying that

315
00:14:45,779 --> 00:14:47,613
spraying their lawns with chemicals,

316
00:14:47,613 --> 00:14:49,481
that's why they got ALS,

317
00:14:49,481 --> 00:14:51,120
and I was like, "I don't think so,"

318
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,459
but I had to get away from the negativity.

319
00:14:55,459 --> 00:14:58,346
The second thing I want to leave you with

320
00:14:58,346 --> 00:15:01,160
is the person at the middle of the challenge

321
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,240
has to be willing to have the mental toughness

322
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,985
to put themselves out there.

323
00:15:07,985 --> 00:15:10,210
Pete still goes to baseball games

324
00:15:10,210 --> 00:15:13,264
and he still sits with his teammates in the dugout,

325
00:15:13,264 --> 00:15:16,147
and he hangs his gravity feed bag

326
00:15:16,147 --> 00:15:17,547
right on the cages.

327
00:15:17,547 --> 00:15:19,317
You'll see the kids, they're up there hanging it up.

328
00:15:19,317 --> 00:15:20,988
"Pete, is that okay?" "Yup."

329
00:15:20,988 --> 00:15:24,239
And then they put it right into his stomach.

330
00:15:24,239 --> 00:15:25,994
Because he wants them to see

331
00:15:25,994 --> 00:15:27,771
what the reality of this is,

332
00:15:27,771 --> 00:15:31,193
and how he's never, ever going to give up.

333
00:15:31,193 --> 00:15:33,243
And the third thing I want to leave you with,

334
00:15:33,243 --> 00:15:36,759
if you ever come across a situation

335
00:15:36,759 --> 00:15:39,898
that you see as so unacceptable,

336
00:15:39,898 --> 00:15:43,621
I want you to dig down as deep as you can

337
00:15:43,621 --> 00:15:46,476
and find your best mother bear

338
00:15:46,476 --> 00:15:48,885
and go after it.

339
00:15:48,885 --> 00:15:54,438
(Applause)

340
00:16:22,886 --> 00:16:24,954
Thank you.

341
00:16:24,954 --> 00:16:29,341
(Applause)

342
00:16:29,341 --> 00:16:30,430
I know that I'm running over,

343
00:16:30,430 --> 00:16:32,197
but I've got to leave you with this:

344
00:16:32,197 --> 00:16:35,371
the gifts that my son has given me.

345
00:16:35,371 --> 00:16:38,084
I have had 29 years

346
00:16:38,084 --> 00:16:41,900
of having the honor of being the mother

347
00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:43,939
of Pete Frates.

348
00:16:43,939 --> 00:16:47,485
Pete Frates has been inspiring and leading

349
00:16:47,485 --> 00:16:49,301
his whole life.

350
00:16:49,301 --> 00:16:51,257
He's thrown out kindness,

351
00:16:51,257 --> 00:16:54,897
and all that kindness has come back to him.

352
00:16:54,897 --> 00:16:58,366
He walks the face of the Earth right now

353
00:16:58,366 --> 00:17:01,342
and knows why he's here.

354
00:17:01,342 --> 00:17:04,190
What a gift.

355
00:17:04,190 --> 00:17:06,821
The second thing that my son has given me

356
00:17:06,821 --> 00:17:10,186
is he's given me my mission in life.

357
00:17:10,186 --> 00:17:11,680
Now I know why I'm here.

358
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,824
I'm going to save my son,

359
00:17:14,824 --> 00:17:17,614
and if it doesn't happen in time for him,

360
00:17:17,614 --> 00:17:20,256
I'm going to work so that no other mother

361
00:17:20,256 --> 00:17:23,815
has to go through what I'm going through.

362
00:17:23,815 --> 00:17:26,509
And the third thing and last but not least

363
00:17:26,519 --> 00:17:29,546
gift that my son has given me,

364
00:17:29,546 --> 00:17:31,633
as an exclamation point

365
00:17:31,633 --> 00:17:33,426
to the miraculous month

366
00:17:33,426 --> 00:17:37,104
of August 2014,

367
00:17:37,104 --> 00:17:39,117
that girlfriend that he went to get

368
00:17:39,117 --> 00:17:40,825
on the night of diagnosis

369
00:17:40,825 --> 00:17:43,358
is now his wife,

370
00:17:43,358 --> 00:17:46,458
and Pete are Julie have given me

371
00:17:46,458 --> 00:17:48,631
my granddaughter,

372
00:17:48,631 --> 00:17:51,745
Lucy Fitzgerald Frates.

373
00:17:51,745 --> 00:17:56,730
Lucy Fitzgerald Frates came two weeks early

374
00:17:56,730 --> 00:17:58,928
as the exclamation point

375
00:17:58,928 --> 00:18:03,307
on August 31st, 2014.

376
00:18:03,307 --> 00:18:04,981
And so

377
00:18:04,981 --> 00:18:13,865
— (Applause) —

378
00:18:13,865 --> 00:18:16,619
and so let me leave you with Pete's words

379
00:18:16,619 --> 00:18:19,887
of inspiration that he would use to classmates,

380
00:18:19,887 --> 00:18:24,980
coworkers, and teammates.

381
00:18:24,980 --> 00:18:28,153
Be passionate.

382
00:18:28,153 --> 00:18:30,660
Be genuine.

383
00:18:30,660 --> 00:18:33,654
Be hardworking.

384
00:18:33,654 --> 00:18:37,938
And don't forget to be great.

385
00:18:37,938 --> 00:18:40,362
Thank you. (Applause)