Tonight on 20/20 ` his newborn son lay dead... Seeing my son for the first time and he's lying on the table. ...and his wife was next. Does that mean we need to start calling family to say goodbye? But... Her eyes snapped open. # Every day's like... # He could have been on tour with Kimbra. Instead he's on a dump in Africa. I am not a Mother Teresa figure. If you knew my dirty secrets... 20/20 is in Kenya to meet a Kiwi doing all he can to help. And a child born with no legs given away. Did you ever think about me? Did you wonder what became of me? Two sisters ` one a golden girl, the other an orphan. It was the biggest bombshell of my life. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora, I'm Sonya Wilson. Last August, Nicky Cameron fell ill and was rushed to hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest. She was seven months' pregnant with her second child. Now, for 73 minutes, staff at Waikato Hospital's emergency department performed CPR. They should've stopped, but didn't and saved her life. Over the following week, she cheated death again and again. Here's Emma Keeling with Nicky's miraculous story and a very special reunion with the people who never gave up. PEOPLE LAUGH, CHATTER Who's to say when your time is up? I thought that was the last time I probably would see that woman. She's wheeling away, and the remains of her blood were dripping behind her. Who knows when you might lose the ones you love? Well, she was arrested. She was, um,... needed CPR and, uh,... she was dying. HEARTBEAT THROBS Whoa! Auckland in August last year, Nicky Cameron was seven months' pregnant with her second child. She'd been tired for weeks and thought she was catching a cold off husband Dave and son Alfie. I decided that I needed my mum's help, so I called her up, and she came up and got me. Her mother took her to a doctor in Hamilton who said there was no cause for concern. Did he check the baby? He did not check the baby, which makes me so angry to this day that he didn't check the baby. I mean, I was seven months pregnant and so sick. How could he not check the baby? When Dave arrived from Auckland, Nicky was worse, so he took her to Waikato Hospital. Her lips were blue, and she was cold, and she was breathing really shallow. At 11.30pm they arrived at the emergency department. Nurse Jenny Wolfe was the ED coordinator that night. We identified that she's pretty sick. You could see everyone looking at each other, going, 'OK, this is bad.' And then, you know, two more doctors came in, and then four more, and then it just started to fill up with emergency staff. We just spiralled out of control from a situation that we wanted to keep under control to just complete mayhem. The last thing I remember is them putting the oxygen mask on me and me trying to pull it off and you saying, 'You've gotta keep it on.' And then everything went black. Over the next seven days, Nicky would hover between life and death. UPBEAT MUSIC Seven years ago, Dave and Nicky became Mr and Mrs Cameron. I knew when I saw him. I did. I knew that he was the man I was gonna marry. Can we maybe square all that up again? (HUMS) And can you give me a little spot on that? Dave's a freelance director of photography for film and TV. Here we go. Rehearsing. Way back when, he was working on another show and Nicky was part of the crew. I just saw you when I first rolled in there and thought, 'You're pretty beautiful,' and, um, all of a sudden, we were dating, then we were engaged. We were engaged, like, a year ` < within the year. Alfie turned up five years ago. So, what's Alfie like? Awesome. Awesome. (LAUGHS) He's great. Awesome. (LAUGHS) He's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's just the best, really. He was excited about being a big brother. But life's not always fair. Nicky had gone into cardiac arrest and was in a coma. They had to take the baby out fast. I remember just saying to him, you know, 'You do know that she's critically unwell?' And he kind of just gave me a nice little smile. When she said call the family to let them know what's going on, I thought it was, you know, she's unwell and she's being taken care of and the baby's coming tonight. You might as well check. READER BEEPS Dr Rob Frengley, the clinical director of intensive care, was called in. As I came through the door, they were literally delivering the baby through a caesarean section and quite literally had just started chest compressions. A nurse came who was sort of designated to look after me, and she said, 'Oh, well, you should have someone here.' And it sort of started to dawn on me that, 'OK, this is really bad.' And I said to her, 'What do you mean? Like, I'm not really sure what's going on. 'Are you saying that Nicky won't survive the night?' She said, 'Yes. Yes, that's what they're saying.' In the room next to Nicky, the baby was also critical. That's one of the hardest parts for me, was walking back in there. And, um,... so I've seen my son for the first time, and he's lying on the table, and he's tiny, and the doctors are all working away on him. And then they let me go next door, and that was where Nicky was being worked on. And there's two doctors, sort of, up to their elbows inside Nicky's stomach, and then there's another one on top, doing CPR away on her chest. And then there's, like, another 20 of them running around, doing all sorts of other things, and there's blood everywhere. It was on the floor. I found out that the family had arrived, so I went out. And as soon as I saw, um, Nicky's parents, Gay and Neil, I just, you know... I think that was the first time I actually cracked properly. And, um, I just bawled my eyes out with them for a short time. HEARTBEAT THROBS Nicky still didn't have a pulse, but she showed enough signs of life that made the medical team persevere. So there were lots and lots of, um, things that we tried to... exclude ` uh, reversible causes of why she was sick and why she was arresting, and it was never really very clear. You know, any idea was gonna be a good idea that night. I pretty much think you could have walked in off the street and thrown an idea at us and we would have given it a go if we thought it would have helped. I'm back in there with her now, and, uh, the family are around, and all the doctors are working flat stick. And then I got called over to say that Billy had died. So I went next door into the room and,... um, held my son. And he was all bundled up and had his little hat on and his blanket, and... he... you know, he was beautiful. Um, and he just looked like he was asleep. It was obvious that the baby had been dead for quite some time ` almost certainly a couple of hours prior to presenting at the hospital. Next door, Nicky was close to joining her son. I 100% could have told you there was no chance for Nicky, personally. It was just what else do you do? Keep going. The doctor who was running it, Rob Frengley, he said, 'Stop. Everyone stop.' You know, all these guys are furiously working, and he said, 'You've gotta stop.' And they all sort of backed off, and he said, 'OK, so we're trying this; we've done this; 'we've done this, this ` all these things. Has anyone got any ideas of what we might be able to do? 'Anything else? You know, a different angle?' And no one said anything. They just sort of shook their heads and looked at each other, like, 'We don't know what to do other than we're doing.' Then a split second later, he's, like, 'Get back in there! Go!' And they all piled back in and carried on working. After a mammoth 73 minutes of CPR, Nicky's heart started beating. She was alive, but at what cost? I wondered whether or not we'd done the right thing. In fact, I was pretty convinced that we hadn't, um, that we should have stopped earlier. How long would you normally perform CPR? I don't think you can ever say a definitive amount of time that you should do CPR for, uh, only to say that, um, the longer you go, the more likely it is that the person will either die and/or that they will survive in a, uh, severe vegetative state. After Nicky was taken to ICU, staff took the unusual step of getting together. You know, what just happened? What did we just witness? Rob pulled us all aside and said, 'We just need to gather for a moment.' There was a lot of emotion. There was a lot of, um, uh... There were a lot of tears. Dr Rob Frengley told the family there was little hope. That was the first time I really, kind of, appreciated the magnitude of what was going on, and I remember looking at Billy lying dead in his little bassinet and my wife on the bed. And, you know, he'd sort of told me that she was dead too, and I thought, 'My whole family is here, and they're dead. 'You know, they're not alive, and I'm not gonna... you know, I'm not gonna see them any more.' When we come back, Nicky Cameron continues her fight to live and Dave prepares to bury his son. She was starting to do things. You know, people would come in, and it felt like she'd hear a voice and then her head would sort of turn to where the voice was, or she was chewing on her breathing tube. And that kept bolstering the family and kept giving us hope. TV PLAYS SCREWDRIVER WHIRRS SCREWDRIVER WHIRRS Is that the last one, Daddy? Yes, precious. That's the last one. SAD MUSIC Could you live with yourself? 1 Welcome back. For the past two days, young mum Nicky Cameron has been in a coma. Medical staff have prepared the family for the worst, but husband Dave refuses to give up. POIGNANT MUSIC Dave Cameron's life was unravelling. Wife Nicky was flown by Westpac chopper to the cardiovascular intensive care in Auckland. He still had to tell son Alfie his baby brother was dead. I took him down into a bedroom and told him that, um, his little brother had died. And he cried straight away, which was heartbreaking. Cos he was so looking forward to seeing his brother. Meanwhile, his mum showed no improvement. Every time we had a doctor's meeting, um, the... the prognosis was bad. Nicky's twin sister, Jo, had finally arrived after being stuck in Hawaii. I think I went into shock when I saw her. I couldn't really say anything or do anything. It was just so unexpected. Doctors were keeping Nicky alive, but only just. I said, 'So does that mean we need to start calling family to say goodbye?' He said, 'Yeah, you do.' So another awesome day of... of ringing people and telling them that, uh, Nicky was gonna die and that they should get here now and say goodbye. But then as the day progressed she didn't get worse; she just kind of sat at that level. TENSE MUSIC They weren't really convinced that she was showing meaningful movement or meaningful response. Tests were now being done to check brain activity. She was starting to do things. You know, people would come in, and it felt like she'd hear a voice, and then her head would sort of turn to where the voice was, or she was chewing on her breathing tube. And it kept bolstering the family and kept giving us hope. As he kept watch over his wife, Dave was preparing to bury his son. I wanted to give him a name before we buried him. Um, so, yeah, it was... we chose Billy. Billy Spencer Cameron, and Spencer's Nicky's maiden name. On Tuesday night, Dave went home, and then... HOPEFUL MUSIC Tell us about that night when she first opened her eyes. Tell us about that night when she first opened her eyes. It was amazing. It was so amazing. I was talking to her about what Dave had said and that he loved her and he wanted me to pass that on. And then all of a sudden, the nurse was right beside me, and she was tapping Nicky's shoulder, and she was saying, 'Nicky. Nicky, open your eyes.' So she must have seen something. Um, and I stopped, and I looked at her, and she opened her eyes. It was the happiest moment of my life, without a doubt, and it was amazing. It was really amazing. HOPEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES The next day was Billy's funeral, seven days since Nicky had gone into a coma. It was so early, so it was just me and Nicky, and I walked in the room, and her eyes snapped open. And I was, like, 'Hi, baby.' And then she sort of followed me as I walked in. And I said, 'Oh my God. 'Blink if you can see me. Blink if you know it's me.' And she blinked. And then I went, 'OK, blink again. 'You know, just to be sure that I know that you know.' And she blinked again, and so I was, like, 'She's back.' I knew she was back. Yeah, I remember that too. I actually remember it. I... yeah, I remember your voice, and everything was foggy, and I didn't quite understand what was going on, but I remember you asking me to blink, and I blinked. It was... weird. weird. BOTH LAUGH weird. BOTH LAUGH Really weird. What was it like, being in a coma? What was it like, being in a coma? For me, it was dreaming. I dreamt a lot. Um, I obviously was taking in things around me, because in my dreams, some of the people, like the nurses, I got their names, and they would be in my dreams as well. Yeah, it was really really crazy, but I just dreamed and dreamed and dreamed until I came to the point where I realised I was in a dream and I couldn't wake up. And that was pretty freaky. Although Nicky's memory wasn't perfect, she knew something or someone was missing. Through the course of Thursday, her hand sat on her stomach. And, um,... she mouthed the word 'baby'. It was so devastating. And I knew it would be devastating to lose a child, but nothing can prepare you for it. But the thing was quite quickly I realised that if I was ever gonna get out of here, I needed to put it... I needed to put it away for the moment and just focus on getting out of here. Um, you know, and I had Dave and I had Alfie ` you know, I needed to get out of hospital. Um, but, you know, I think it would have been quite easy to just give up. LILTING MUSIC 11 months on, you'd never know Nicky came so close to death. But there are reminders. The loss of circulation during her coma meant she had to have the tips of her toes and part of her heel amputated, and then there's her heart. I think I'll probably have heart problems for the rest of my life, but, um, I'm really lucky ` I'm off the transplant list now, which is great. Although her heart carries another burden ` the loss of Billy. Not being actually able to hold him has been quite a hard thing to deal with. Um, they also cut a lock of his hair, that I wear in my locket here, um, with me all the time, so it's nice to feel like he's with me. I know that I'm so lucky that I have those memories, um, but, you know, to not be able to hold him at the end of all that was... it was devastating. It's good that Alfie got to meet his brother, and he still talks about him all the time, which is so cool. Are you able to have any more children? Physically, we can have more children. Um, but the doctors don't really know what caused the cardiac arrest ` whether it was due to a virus or whether it was, um, because I was pregnant. So they tell me that it wouldn't be a very good idea to, um, have another baby. To fall pregnant again, um, is not really a risk that we're gonna take, I imagine. They'll probably never know why Nicky survived, but the Camerons do know who to thank for saving her. My... The crutches? My... The crutches? We can leave them here. Today they're back at Waikato Hospital. Are you ready? Are you ready? Yeah. God. I remember some of these faces. I remember some of these faces. Do you? I remember some of these faces. Do you? Hello, everyone. Rebecca, the nurse who spent hours holding Dave's hand, is first in for a hug. Hi. I saw you resuscitating my son. I saw you resuscitating my son. Yes. Is it unusual to meet the people you've helped? It doesn't happen very often, and I just think it's amazing. She was at the extreme and was close to death as probably anybody we'll ever meet, maybe, ever again. Flown with the chopper pilot. Flown with the chopper pilot. Yeah! Yeah. Flown with the chopper pilot. Yeah! Yeah. Dude, good to see you. Around 20 staff worked on Nicky and Billy that night. Thank you. (CHUCKLES) Thank you. (CHUCKLES) Oh, it's just nice to see you looking so well. So, how long would you have kept going for? I mean, 73 minutes is insane, and, I mean, at some point, you've gotta just call it, right? I mean, or do you`? I mean, or do you`? We certainly had those sort of discussions. It's scary thinking about it now. Like, honestly. It's scary thinking about it now. Like, honestly. Yeah. Of course. > Um, but we did talk about stopping many times. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad we didn't. Yeah, it could have been very different. Yeah, it could have been very different. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. > Yeah. > You're like a miracle. (CLEARS THROAT) The Camerons wanted to give something back ` a framed reminder of the life they saved. READS: To the incredible team at Waikato Hospital ` you can never understand the depth of our gratitude for your actions that terrible night. < You are an amazing group of human beings, and together you have saved not only a wife, < but a mother, a sister and a daughter. I did a painting for your children's ward, um, in memory of the little boy, that I also wanna thank you so much for working on him for so long as well. (SNIFFLES) Um,... I know everything that could have been done was done. You know, and, um, yeah, I just wanna say thanks for him as well, from him as well. Our thanks is that you're here. Whoever wants to take that. (LAUGHS) Dave and Nicky want everyone to know that sometimes a little hope can go a long way. She fought. She fought, we fought. For some reason, she made it, and that is a miracle and probably the biggest miracle of my whole career. It's pretty awesome to be able to come back and say thanks to them. Yeah. Yeah. And to let everyone know just how amazing they were. And also just that thing of hope again, you know, for all those people sitting in waiting rooms, worried about loved ones, just not to give up. worried about loved ones, just not to give up. Yeah. That miracles do happen. LILTING MUSIC Amazing story. Coming up after the break ` from Kimbra to Kenya. How did talented musician Matthew Holleman find himself on a dump in Africa? This is a completely different world and the rules are different. PIGS SNORT It's day-to-day survival. This stinking dump is an inner-city suburb where hundreds of families eat, sleep and live. Matt, tell me how you felt the first time that you turned up here. Um, I felt overwhelmed, so I didn't even really know what I thought. Two things I need before the race ` music and the confidence to win. It's about getting my head in the right place; seeing every stroke, every turn, every breath. It's not just the flakes we wash out. It's the confidence we wash in. Head & Shoulders. It's always about having a winning state of mind. 'IT MUST BE LOVE' There are sometime seats, seats your baby's in some of the time, and then there's the one seat your baby's in 24 hours a days, seven days a week ` his nappy. That's why Huggies makes sure your baby's delicate little bottom always has the very best comfort and protection. And by using Huggies nappies and baby wipes together, you can sure your baby'll have the best seat in the house. # It must be love, love, love. # 1 Welcome back. We've all seen the ads, the horror news stories ` starving children in dusty countries with a doubtful future at best. So ever wondered what you could do to help? Well, you're about to meet Matthew Holleman, a young Kiwi bloke who did more than just wonder. He had the world at his feet, but gave it all away to do what he could in one of the bleakest places on earth. Kim Vinnell went to Kenya to find out what drives Matt Holleman to endure muggings, guns, even prison instead of living a life most of us could have only dreamt of. AFRICAN MUSIC This is the Kenya of tourist brochures. AFRICAN MUSIC CONTINUES Where else in the world do you give way to rhinos? But I've come here with Kiwi aid worker Matt Holleman to find out about another Kenya, one the world doesn't see. UPBEAT MUSIC So, this is a completely different world and the rules are different. PIGS SNORT It's day-to-day survival. This stinking dump is actually an inner-city suburb where hundreds of families eat, sleep and live. Matt, tell me how you felt the first time that you turned up here. Um, I felt overwhelmed, so I didn't even really know what I thought. Matt's here to help the most vulnerable ` the children. A lot of children who end up here are just simply abandoned. What is your age? 12. 12. 12. And her age? Yes, 3. Yes, 3. 3? I remember being quite shocked in that, um, children and families were eating from the dump site. DRUM MUSIC The pigs, the dogs, the vultures, the donkeys ` everyone's at the same level competing for survival. And, you know, with desperation, people do desperate things. Just being here carries big risks for an outsider. I've been involved in fights here, like fights to protect myself, fights to protect my belongings. I've been mugged here. People pointed a gun at me here before. People have tried carjacking me. I have been in` in prison two times here. When you realise what Matt Holleman has given up to do this, it begs a few questions. # Cos every day's like talking in your sleep... # Like why would anyone turn down an offer to tour the world with Kimbra to become an aid worker? < Do you ever regret that decision? No. Admittedly, I do sometimes think, 'Oh, that would be a cool life.' Is that the 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' part? Is that the 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' part? I guess, yeah. I am not a Mother Teresa figure. Like, if you, um, yeah` If you knew my dirty secrets, like, uh` like, yeah, you would not think I was. Um, I'm just a very very average, normal boy. MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC But growing up in Papua New Guinea, the son of aid worker parents, Matt was never going to be average. I was fortunate to` to see what was real for` for most of the world, um, seeing poverty and just seeing civilisation that was, you know, a hundred years behind. So, um, I don't think everyone gets` gets that opportunity to see that. (PLAYS SOFT MELODY) Through school and university, music was his first love. # I will lie. # I will... # By 25, he had three albums under his belt. It was everything to me then because it's where I thought my, uh, career and future was heading, so, um` so I made it everything. Um, so, uh, yeah` so I studied it, I played it, I` I wrote it. 'SETTLE DOWN' PLAYS But somehow it just wasn't enough. And on the verge of the big time, he made his choice. I think we've all been touched by the odd song sometime through our lives, but I think of friends I've met or bands I've met and who` who have made it, who are successful, but I struggle to see how, you know, they've made a big change in the world. And I'm not after it to make a big change, you know, in the world, but I'd like to do something. OMINOUS MUSIC But Matt could never have imagined where that urge to do something would take him. RAPID GUNFIRE In 2008, Kenya, where hundreds were killed in an explosion of violence after disputed elections. We want peace! There's a lot of unrest here. It, uh` It was a very desperate place. It was frightening. It was terrible. It's something I'd not like to see it again. PEOPLE CHANT: We want peace. Refugee camp chairman Moses tells me he and his family fled for their lives. So you just ran? I just left, carrying my little child on my shoulder, because that's what I could save. And my family ` we just walked. OMINOUS MUSIC Moses wanted to show us how four years later his people still live. Can`? Can you ask her how many people live in here? (SPEAKS SWAHILI) There are six together and the child. < And how`? How old is the little one? OK, 2 months and the mother died. She was` She was just taking care the little one. < How did the`? How did the mother die? She just fell sick and she passed on. She died, yeah. Well, thank you very much for letting us come in. Thank you. A few kilometres away is the orphanage and school Matt helps run with Kiwi charity So They Can. How are you, Samson? Hey! You've all grown up. (SPEAKS SWAHILI) Come here. Hi, Samuel. Working here can be heartbreaking. WHISPERS: So, he is HIV-positive as well. He doesn't` He doesn't know yet. He's on, um` He just started retroviral drugs. You know, it's a hard one to know, right, when to tell them. What stage of life do we tell them? If you look closely at the kids, a lot of them have scars across their` particularly their arms, hands and faces, and that's just from the local community, um, you know, physically abusing them. We realised that most of the girls and about half of the guys have been sexually abused, um, raped. Is it any wonder the kids will do anything to escape their misery? At the dump we showed you earlier, children as young as 3 are hard drug users. They tend to be addicted to sniffing glue, so often they, um` they find shoes, they melt down the glues and, uh` and sniff that to take away the` the hunger pains. KIDS CHATTER The children who make it to Matt's orphanage are considered the lucky ones. I think we're just getting ready for lunch. KIDS CHATTER They get really fat when they first come because they're not used to having, uh, meals ` predictable meals. I think they have their mind set that every meal could be their last. UPLIFTING MUSIC Wherever we go, there are more children. What is this? Hello. It's really shocking for me that the environment can be so different here that the value of a life can be so different, and that's something I will never get used to. Hi-yah! Hi-yah! (GRUNTS) KIDS GIGGLE Oh, you're still very cute, OK? It's impossible not to be moved by these kids and the work that people like Matt are doing to help them. PEOPLE CHATTER It's an experience that has brought Matt and I very close, so close that I'm moving to Africa to be with him and to help. # I will try # to fix you. # Nice one, Kim. A big, big life change coming up for her. Uh, we'll put Matt's organisation up on our Facebook page so you can have a look at their website. Next up on 20/20 ` America's golden girl of the 1996 Olympics lifts the lid on her anything but golden life and introduces us to her secret sister. At 14 years old, Dominique was the youngest of the Magnificent Seven, the best team of women gymnasts ever fielded by the United States. But two years later, she was in the spotlight again ` in court. Dominique shocked the world when she filed for emancipation from her parents. 1 Welcome back. She was just 14 when she won gold at the Atlanta Olympics, America's sweetheart. But behind the smiles, Dominique Moceanu's life was far from golden ` a controlling father and a family secret with an amazing twist. Tonight 20/20 sits down with Dominique to talk about parents, coaches and her long-lost sister. She came to the world's attention ` a tiny girl performing her heart out at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. But for Dominique Moceanu, the glory of Olympic gold masked heartache and abuse. The childhood was challenging at times. I don't wish my experience upon anybody. And a domineering father who tore his family apart. It's all in her new book ` Off Balance, and she reveals it for the first time tonight. At 14 years old, Dominique was the youngest of the Magnificent Seven ` the best team of women gymnasts ever fielded by the United States. Gymnastics was my calling. I think it chose me in a lot of ways. I still remember that the Devil Went Down to Georgia. When I was performing, I let go of all those burdens inside and I truly loved it. But two years later, she was in the spotlight again ` in court. Dominique shocked the world when she filed from emancipation from her parents. This was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And it's even harder than competing in the Olympics. On the stand, Dominique testified that her father Dimitri siphoned almost a million dollars of her post-Olympic earnings. She also testified about physical abuse. Did your father ever strike you? Did your father ever strike you? Yes, in the face. I was afraid for much of my childhood. I was afraid of my father for his violent temper. He had a short fuse. It had been a tumultuous life, but by 2006, Dominique had retired from gymnastics and married fellow gymnast Mike Canales. Life is good. I finally found balance in my life. At 26 years old, Dominique was expecting her first child, when a mysterious letter arrived in the mail. READS: Hi, Dominique. My name is Jennifer Bricker. It was the biggest bombshell of my life. 'You have been my idol my whole life and you turned out to be my sister. 'I realise this must be a lot for you to take in right now.' I had this sister that was born, who was given up for adoption and I never ever knew it. Rage was my first emotion. Had my life been a lie? And that was a hard thing to take. The day after Dominique's sixth birthday, her mother had given birth to a little girl ` a baby she would never hold, never see, never know. This is that little girl today. Despite being raised hundreds of miles apart, Jen had a lot in common with Dominique, the sister she never knew. She was a Moceanu DNA for sure. The similarities are striking. Absolutely. The features, tones of our voices, our handwriting, the way we laugh and chuckle. It's mind-blowing. But the most mind-blowing part of all was what Jen told Dominique during their very first phone call. She tells me, 'Oh, by the way. I have no legs.' Wait a second. What? Yes, Jen had been born without legs, but that never slowed her down. I competed in volleyball, basketball, softball and power-tumbling. And I took to it hook, line and sinker. Uh, I competed in it for four years. And actually won a state championship and went to the Junior Olympics. Here I was thinking, 'You did gymnastics. You did volleyball.' I was, like, 'Who is this girl?' Jen says her adoptive parents Sharon and Joe Bricker treated her the same as their three sons. Did they ever make you feel handicapped? My parents made me feel everything but handicapped growing up. We didn't dwell on the fact that she didn't have legs. 'Can't' was a four-letter word she couldn't use. And one of the things the young Jen Bricker wanted to do was gymnastics. Did you follow the Olympics in 1996? Did you follow the Olympics in 1996? Absolutely. Particularly Dominique. Come on. She was your favourite gymnast? I'm not kidding. I wouldn't shut up about her. Ironically, Jen's love of gymnastics had been the original key that would unlock the secret of her birth family. Although it was supposed to be a closed adoption, a clerical error allowed Sharon and Gerald to read Jen's birth name on the adoption papers ` Moceanu. It was just a foreign-sounding name, until they saw Dominique on TV. When they told her name, it was, like, 'Whoa, that's the same last name.' 'And then when they panned out in the audience and it showed the mother and the father, 'I realised that they were her parents and Dominique was her sister.' We chose not to tell her because it wouldn't have been fair to Dominique and it wouldn't have been fair to Jen. But years later, when Jen was 16, they finally told her. I was just kind of in shock, like, 'Who does this happen to?' (LAUGHS) Whose`? Whose childhood idol turns into their biological sister? Does it feel like a coincidence that you're both these athletes and happen to be great gymnasts too? I don't think it's a coincidence. I don't think it's a coincidence. I don't think so. I don't think it's a coincidence. I don't think so. I don't think it at all. Nature versus nurture. Nature is so much more dominant that you could have ever made me believe before. And yet Jen credits the nurturing she received from her adoptive parents for making her who she is today. When it comes to families, I hit the jackpot. And I'm so thankful for that because that is why I'm able to be where I'm at today. APPLAUSE Today Jen is a professional acrobat and aerialist. And she's reconnected with both Dominique and her younger sister, Christina. She's also met her biological mother. Meeting Camelia was intense. I asked her, you know, 'Did you ever think about me? 'Did you wonder what became of me?' That's a tough question. Yeah, it's a tough question, but I felt like I kind of deserved it. (LAUGHS) You know, deserved a little bit of an explanation. I felt bad for her because, I mean, she never even got to hold me. Jen never got to meet Dimitri Moceanu, her father. He died from cancer in 2008. But from Camelia, she learned that Dimitri never gave his wife the choice to keep their baby girl. It seemed that the man who poured so much ambition into his golden child had little interest in raising a daughter with a disability. And it was so foreign to me ` all the secrecy, all the lies. All of this anger and sadness. I had come from the opposite ` completely. It is so ironic ` Dominique, the Olympic golden girl, endured a painful childhood. And Jen, the baby born with no legs and given away at birth, ended up with a magical life. Is there a moral to this story, Jen? Having a good foundation of a family ` parents that instil confidence and self-esteem in you ` is everything. For her sister Dominique, that means giving her own children the blissful and happy childhood she always craved. All those things have been able to bring me where I am today, and I feel I am a strong woman. I can handle anything now. Next up on 20/20 ` what happens when those who are meant to be in charge lose it. Move. When this local reporter crossed the thin blue line to cover a car crash, the situation quickly escalated from bad... Do you want me to arrest you? Is it what you want? ...to worse... Hands on the trunk! I didn't do anything. I'm not doing anything. ...to... I'm taking off. I'm taking off. <BLEEP>. The way it moves, the way it cleans is simply revolutionary. Oral-B power brushes. Our dentist-inspired brush head removes up to five times more plaque along the gum line. Get that dentist-clean feeling. 1 Welcome back. Well, last week in this slot, you saw celebrities attacking and people losing it in court. But what happens when it's the people who are meant to be in charge that are out of control? Teachers in class, police on our streets and even pilots with our lives in their hands. Brutal cops,... Roll your window down now! We got Israel... ...frantic pilots. We're gonna get doomed! ...raving teachers. (YELLS) The complete and utter loss of control. But it's cops gone wild when you hit that viral highway of life's most shameful moments. Sir, you have to move. When this local reporter crossed the thin blue line to cover a car crash, the situation quickly escalated from bad... Do you want me to arrest you? Is it what you want? ...to worse... Let him go. Let him go. Hands on the trunk! I didn't do anything! I'm not doing anything! ...to... I'm taking off. I'm taking off. <BLEEP>. Oh! Oh! Cops live on the razor's edge of adrenalin, but being a teacher is supposed to be one of America's most noble jobs. This is how our nation's classrooms should look. < Shut up! But all too often, it's more like this. PEOPLE SCREAM And this woman in the jeans is a former teacher of the year. PEOPLE SCREAM But bad behaviour at the airport is what really seizes the headlines. < Please stop! This hurts! Susie Castillo, a former Miss USA, had a close encounter of the worst kind during a security check in Dallas. This woman ` she touched my vagina. Four times. She claimed she was groped by a TSA agent. I am just really really upset. Up in the air, it's all about crazy captains and flight attendant freak-outs. (SCREAMS) The still reigning king of flight attendant meltdowns is Steven Slater. When the JetBlue flight he was on landed at Kennedy Airport, Slater says he couldn't take it any more. < You were verbally abused by the passengers you were trying to serve? < You were verbally abused by the passengers you were trying to serve? Right. He snapped, dropped the F bomb over the intercom, grabbed a couple of beers, popped the plane's emergency chute, slid down and headed for his car and drove home. Did you know that you were ending your career as a flight attendant? Did you know that you were ending your career as a flight attendant? Oh yes. Excuse us, please. In the end, legal proceedings against him resulted in one year of probation for attempted criminal mischief and a $10,000 fine. But the new standard for scary pilot stories happened on JetBlue last March when captain Clayton Osbon simply and inexplicably went crazy. Oh, we're going`! Oh, we're going`! PEOPLE SHOUT I'm doing`! I feel like`! I don't! I'm so distraught! Oh my God! We got Israel. We got Iraq. We got Israel... When Captain Osbon started ranting in the aisle, the co-pilot locked the captain out. He kicked the door. He kicked it, and it almost buckled. Former corrections officer David Gonzalez says he got the pilot in a chokehold and felt him pass out, only then, he says, did the passengers begin to help. JetBlue 191 emergency. We need the authorities... The first thought goes through your mind, 'Is this plane gonna crash?' He's flying a plane with hundreds of people. He's got to be accountable. Once on the ground, marshals took the unconscious pilot into custody. Osbon was indicted and may serve a term of up to 20 years, and this week passengers filed a lawsuit against JetBlue. Was it surprising to see a pilot have a meltdown like this? We're all people. We're subject to stresses, to pain, to hurt. You can only push people so far. Who hasn't been overworked and underpaid? Who isn't stressed? It was very resonant of where we are as a culture and a country in that moment and still are. Phew, that's my worst nightmare ` pilot going crazy. If you want to see any of tonight's stories again, head to our website. It's... You can email us at... or go to our Facebook page... and let us know your thoughts on tonight's show. Well, thanks for all your feedback. We're interested in your stories, as always, so keep the ideas coming in.