Real People

[soft, ethereal music]

[Victor] I can remember the doctor telling me I had three months to live and to start killing my bucket list.

[motorcycle engine]

He actually said bye to me. He said, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to say, this'll probably be our last goodbyes.

Today is my third new birthday. Three years ago, I had a stem cell transplant-a bone marrow stem cell transplant.

[ethereal music]

[Brother] You know, when they started looking for matches, I was ready to do it.

[Victor] And he calls me, and he says, I'm your match and I'm doing it. It was absolutely, no question, I'm giving you my blood.

[Brother] They gave me a lot of opportunities to back out, and I'm like, there's no way.

[Interviewer] So, how'd you guys meet?

[Brother] How'd we meet? We're brothers. [both laugh]

[Victor] I refused to accept that I wasn't gonna survive.

When you go into a game, you don't go in thinking you're gonna lose. Even though you might be way outclassed. The team that gets on the floor still thinks that they can win, and that's the way a cancer patient needs to be.

They need to believe that they can win.

[soft, inspirational music]

We're at my house that burned down on December 13th. To me, as long as no one was hurt, I've gotten over this pretty quickly.

Sucks when your house burns down, but I already faced death, and this is nothing but a speed bump.

[motorcycle engine]

My favorite place, with Timpanogos in the background, sun rising over to our east.

This is where I get solitude. I call it "wind therapy." That's what I do to feel better.

Imagine, three and a half years ago I was told that I had three months to live, and now I've gone three years.

[Brother] That's pretty amazing. I feel like I'm just a piece to the puzzle.

[Victor] You know, if he makes me mad, I might go out and commit a crime with his blood, you know.

[Brother] Might have my DNA on that.

[Victor] Yeah.

[Brother] [chuckles] So I don't know...

[Brother] A lot I don't know.

[Victor] I like sunrises better than sunsets. That sense of life that the sun brings every morning.

It's very much like...my transplant, that there's a new beginning.

[inspirational music]