Teen With Rare Genetic Disorder Shoots and Scores; Chicago police Helped Englewood Angels Soar
HILL: In the Christmas spirit, a story about hope in this week's "Turning Point." A New Hampshire team with a rare genetic disorder isn't letting his small stature block his shots. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 3'5", 15-year- old Tristan Willmott is not your typical basketball player.</s>TRISTAN WILLMOTT, SOPHOMORE, HILLSBORO-DEERING HIGH SCHOOL: I've been practicing all my life for this.</s>ANDREW JONES, TRISTAN'S COACH: On the first day of tryouts, when I saw Tristan come in, I thought he was somebody's little brother.</s>GUPTA: Tristan is now playing on his high school basketball team for a second year.</s>T. WILLMOTT: Making a basket was my goal in each game.</s>GUPTA: Tristan has an extremely rare chromosomal disorder called Mulibrey nanism. It's a form of dwarfism that impedes growth and also affects the muscles, liver, brain and eyes. It can lead to premature death in patients who experience severe complications, such as a heart infection.</s>JESSIE WILLMOTT, TRISTAN'S MOTHER: They knew right off that he was small. And they actually found it by accident.</s>GUPTA: By that point, Tristan was in a fight for his life. His mom had prepared him for the worst.</s>J. WILLMOTT: They had sat me down and said that I needed to look at quality of life versus quantity.</s>GUPTA: But then he turned a corner after what should have been the last trip of his life.</s>J. WILLMOTT: They really, I don't think, gave him more than a few months. So we did the Make a Wish trip to Florida and he really hasn't been sick since.</s>GUPTA: Now, 10 years later, Tristan credits his grit for helping him soar.</s>T. WILLMOTT: I didn't get tired because I knew I wouldn't give up.</s>HILL: Now turning to a story with the true meaning of the holidays. Three young sisters found living in an abandoned Chicago apartment filled with garbage are getting a second chance. Police in the community together raising more than $100,000 to give the girls a fresh start. Ryan Young has more in this addition of "Beyond the Call of Duty."</s>RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three young girls from Chicago are getting a fresh start at life. They're known as the Englewood angels, and the love they receive now is all thanks to one 911 call.</s>SGT. CHARLES ARTZ, CHICAGO POLICE: I get notified that we have a situation where there's some children left alone inside this abandoned building.</s>YOUNG: Inside the home, Sergeant Charles Artz says the girls then 7, 2, and 1 sat together with nothing but each other.</s>ARTZ: They're all huddled up together in the bedroom, on a very dirty mattress that's inside one of the bedrooms there. The whole house was very uninhabitable. There was no running water, no heat, no electricity. Dirty garbage spread throughout the apartment.</s>YOUNG: The father was accused of striking his children and charged with eight counts of battery. He has pleaded not guilty. The mother's role in the children's lives is unclear. It's also not clear how long the girls had been abandoned. But officers found the girls' grandmother Dolores Anderson, who hadn't seen her grandkids in years. Anderson says she quit her jobs to take full-time care of the girls.</s>DOLORES ANDERSON, GRANDMOTHER: They was very small. And they was dirty, like I said, because they hadn't been bathed in awhile. They wasn't used to real food at first.</s>YOUNG: Despite finding a loving home, officers wanted to help even more. So they started stopping by the apartment to check on the children, bringing furniture and other donated items. A GoFundMe page they established raised over $100,000.</s>OFFICER MIMI BUGARIN, CHICAGO POLICE: I have two daughters myself. So it just -- it was heartbreaking to see them and the conditions that they were living in. So, yes, so we just knew that we needed to do something more for them.</s>ARTZ: Well, we initially started bringing over some milk and some diapers.</s>YOUNG: The oldest child, who is now 8, had never, ever attended school. The officers helped to get her enrolled. A Christmas blessing that doesn't know color or rank but just love and lots of caring.</s>ANDERSON: I never thought there was still so many people out there in this world that care. There's no love anymore. And for everybody to reach out to donate what they can, food, money, clothing for the girls. And they try to help me, too, but I don't want anything. Knowing my babies OK, and I got a roof over their head, I'm fine.</s>YOUNG: Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.</s>HILL: There is much more CNN NEWSROOM just ahead and it all starts right now. Thanks for being with us on this Christmas eve. I'm Erica Hill in today for Fredricka Whitfield. We are following two big stories at this hour. New warnings from the FBI and Homeland Security over possible threats from ISIS. They say the terror group may target churches and other holiday events. Plus new information new arrests in that Christmas market attack in Berlin. Three men now in custody accused of having ties to the suspected attacker and officials revealing conversations, at least one of them had with the attacker. We're going to begin, though, with that new warning about threats here at home. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following the developing story. So, Polo, give us a sense. What exactly is in this warning and do we know why the FBI and Homeland Security felt compelled to send it out now?</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Erica, the main point --