Batkid Begins

That's the dad. This is his chubby son.

- This is... - But he's not Batkid.

- Yeah, he is. - He's Batkid?

- Uh-huh. - Oh.

Or, actually, he's Batboy because he's almost 6.

- Okay. - Like me.

Do you know the secret of him?

I think the secret is...

...Miles wants to be a superhero!

He already is a superhero.

This may be the feel-good story of the year.

A boy's wish about to come true right here in San Francisco.

A leukemia patient is being given a chance...

...to live out his dream to be a superhero.

Parts of San Francisco are being transformed into Gotham City...

...so that 5-year-old Miles can be Batman for a day.

- Thousands of volunteers. - Thousands are in on this.

Thousands of people.

- The scale of this is unbelievable. - It's huge.

Follow us on Twitter using the hashtag SFBatkid to experience it.

Millions all over the Bay Area feel comfortable and safe with Batkid on duty.

What's their mission today?

Finding the Riddler and the bad guys.

I've got you!

- Nice going, Batman. - I'm Batman.

I am Batman.

Batkid! Batkid! Batkid!

- What are they dancing around for? - Ha-ha-ha.

Believe it or not, they're dancing for you.

Batkid! Batkid! Batkid!

- So was this what you guys expected? - Mm-hm.

- No. - No. No.

So let me explain how this happened.

I'm not really sure I can, actually, but here goes.

Miles, when he was about 18 months, 19 months old...

...he came into bed with Nick and I, and it was on a Sunday morning.

And we had noticed there was a little lump, like, right near his jaw.

And it wasn't palpable. It just was kind of hard, and so we're like, "That's really weird."

And we took him to an urgent care, an immediate care, in Klamath Falls that day.

And they said, "Oh, he has an ear infection."

We were like, "That's weird. That doesn't really relate to this.

He's not complaining of ear pain."

He started antibiotics, and we followed up with his doctor the next week.

I'm a nurse, and I was actually working for the doctor, for Miles's doctor.

And I had Nick bring Miles up, and they did the blood work.

And then they left because he was fussy and tired.

When Dr. Britch came out, I knew. I saw her face.

Natalie called me just absolutely in hysterics, just screaming, crying.

She tried to tell me what was wrong. I had no idea what she was saying.

"Okay, you gotta stop and slow down because I don't understand a word you said."

And said, "Miles has leukemia.

We need to pack, and then we gotta be on a plane at 7." And I think it was about 4:00.

He had an IV put in, and we were on an air flight to Portland.

At that time, he was a real daddy's boy...

...so I had to fly with him, and Natalie's terrified of flying.

And he wasn't gonna be on a gurney by himself...

...and so I was strapped to the gurney. He was strapped to me, on top of it.

So we got up there, and Natalie and her mom drove up there that night.

Then we were in Portland for three weeks.

The first week we were inpatient...

...and then the next two weeks we were at Ronald McDonald House.

When he was in Portland, he had bone marrow biopsies and lumbar punctures...

...and then daily chemo. And then, um, he had a blood transfusion.

We had to keep him away from a lot of crowds, you know...

...with the weakened immune system.

So after that, he went...

...every three months for a lumbar puncture, but every month he would get chemo.

When Miles was first diagnosed, within that first couple weeks...

...we met up with a social worker...

...and they told us that he qualified for Make-A-Wish.

It's for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Eighty percent live into adulthood.

They get to pick whatever would make them the happiest.

And being 18 months old, we said, "No, we don't wanna do it now.

Let's hold off and wait till he finds something he likes and go with it."

It was the last year of treatment for him that we asked about it again and she said:

"We'll put in the request."

We'd met the couple that did our interview for Make-A-Wish...

...at Natalie's parents' house.

The wife did paperwork...

...and the husband just took Miles aside and he drew pictures...

And tried to get an idea of what he likes.

And he came back after about a half an hour and said Miles wished to be Batman.

He said, "I wanna be the real Batman," was his exact wish.

Wasn't, "I wanna act like Batman. I want a Batman suit."

It was, "I want to be Batman."

We were just really wondering how that was gonna work out. Ha-ha-ha.

How are you gonna be the real Batman?

How do you do that? We had no idea what to think.

Our program director came into my office and said, "I have a superhero wish for you."

So I was like, "I'll take that!" So I took the file...

...and I wanted to know what it meant for him to be Batman.

You know, what kind of child he was, what kind of wish this might be...

...and just really get a sense of the family and him.

We live in Tulelake, California. It's right on the California-Oregon border.

Quiet, quaint, small town, not much going on.

Really tight-niche community. Very nice place to live.

Nick and I actually...

...went to school together, elementary, junior high.

And we dated in junior high.

"Dated," right? That's not real.

I grew up right here on a farm.

I'm the fourth-generation farmer in this area. We have hay and grain now.

It was hard because he was diagnosed in April.

That's when we start getting busy planting.

And at that time we were just getting our farm kind of on the ground.

Freshly married, didn't have a lot of money...

...and the whole town, like, came together.

Other guys had their crew sent out here to put out pipe for us.

All other farmers chipped in. It was absolutely amazing.

And so one night, the old Adam West Batmans were on Nickelodeon, I think, at that time.

And so they were just watching Batman. He just fell in love with it.

And so for weeks there, every night we'd watch Batman.

That was his introduction to superheroes.

Why do you like Batman so much?

Because he's my favorite superhero.

I think it's because Batman's just a regular guy.

I mean, he doesn't have a superpower. He's got gadgets and money.

He's always liked all superheroes and stuff, but he always kind of...

...comes back to Batman because I think it was his first love-type thing.

One of his doctors told us that with this disease, they become like a fighter.

They have to be. They fight for life.

What happens when Batman sees the bad guys?

He fights.

And so I think he sees the good-versus-evil battle in superheroes...

...and just relates to it.

He had to take steroids every month for five days...

...and that was what took the most toll on him because he didn't understand the way he felt.

And it made him really moody, and hungry, and tired.

And he'd have nightmares.

And it's not just Miles. I think it's all kids that have a disease or an illness like that...

...they get more compassion and want to help people.

And superheroes, in general, are helping people.

The first thing he ever had of Batman was a pair of pajamas.

He's always been into dressing up. That's been since day one.

For Christmas, his first four years of life, it was like, "I want clothes and pajamas."

What kid says that, you know? He wants costumes to dress up.

I think he just likes to put on the costume...

...and become whoever that is.

He used to call himself the changer boy. "I'm a changer boy!"

He would change all the time. He could wear costumes to the hospital.

His doctors and everyone, they were like, "Oh, what superhero are you wearing today?"

When we're going about doing a wish, it is whimsical.

And it's about using your imagination and thinking about what would wow that child...

...and give them an experience that gives them a little of their childhood that's been robbed.

You put yourself in their shoes and say, "What would be great?"

That's fun!

The wish family asked for his wish to be in November after his treatment.

It was gonna be after his surgery to have his port removed.

So it would be after his harvest season. So November made good sense.

And he'd have more energy, not in the middle of chemotherapy.

It gave him something to look forward to in some of his darker days.

What we began playing with is to do maybe an episode.

You know, and have him have these capers.

So I came up with the idea to have a full-size, a grown-up Batman...

...and he would be the kind of Mini-Me.

She thought that was a perfect fit for his wish, so that he would have a buddy.

I reached out to EJ and asked him to be Batman.

- Shall we do it? - We should do it.

Whoa. Agh.

She sent e-mails saying, "There's a little guy whose wish is to learn to be Batman.

Crime-fighting, acrobatics. Whatever Batman does, that's what he wants to do."

When I sent the e-mail to him, his wife Sue saw it first.

And he goes, "I don't have a choice in this, do I?" And she said, "Nope." Ha-ha-ha.

Heck, yes. Let's do it. Give me the suit.

He's a former stunt double and acrobat.

- He's an inventor. He creates gadgets. - He does everything.

And he's just so great with kids.

Ten years ago, EJ and I worked together on a wish.

It was an 8-year-old leukemia patient named Ben...

...whose wish was to make a video game where the player fights cancer...

...so that he could send it back to the friends of his who were still stuck in treatment.

What a beautiful idea.

I approached some video game companies and was laughed at...

...and said, "I don't think you know what you're asking about.

We're talking a million dollars of value. And you're talking about a year or two.

You're out of your league this time."

I was so impressed with what Ben wanted to do...

...that there's nothing to take but time.

For seven months, EJ worked with Ben every week...

...with the exception of one, when Ben was grounded, heh, for not doing his homework

But created this great video game that's been downloaded over 300,000 times.

This is the most fulfilling project I've worked on.

He brought in game ideas that I never would have come up with.

He actually brought in something called a port one day, in a jar...

...which is a device that they implanted inside him.

He said, "This is how the player gets into the game."

Both of them are recognized by the Dalai Lama for their unselfish acts.

I knew that it'd be magic with him.

And then it was, "Let's decide where it's gonna be."

I presented several options of doing something in their hometown of Tulelake...

...or something near them.

I figured it would probably be, you know, in a park.

Kind of a family, and maybe some friends of his.

You know, put on a Batman suit and do some stunts and acrobatics.

Maybe have some mats and a trampoline.

We didn't wanna do it here because we wanted to go somewhere...

...because we have not been on many family vacations.

Or I had this bold statement, which I make, that I was gonna turn...

...San Francisco into Gotham City and that resonated...