On Saturday, we met with two extraordinary families in our local area of Metro Detroit. We started in Royal Oak with our first superhero family, the Hattermann’s. Grant Hattermann, 13, and a cancer survivor, who dreams of one day being on American Ninja Warrior Junior. During quarantine, Grant’s dad, Blake Hattermann, conjoined backyards with their next-door neighbor and built Grant his very own ninja warrior course. The Hattermann’s like to spend most of their time outdoors and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to keep Grant active when everything shut down.

Grant isn’t the only one that enjoys the course; the neighbor kids and Grant’s two siblings, Amelia and Liam, get right out there with him as they take turns running the course, cheering each other on. Grant’s mom, Diane Hattermann, is extremely proud of her son and the progress he’s made and continues to make every day. During her sit-down interview, she shared with us the early years of struggles as Grant had to face cancer straight on as a small child.

We then headed to Novi to film with Robby Heil, 21. Robby is best known for his winning touchdown at Novi High School in 2016 when coach Burnside took Robby off hydration manager duty and put him out on the field. This was a big moment, especially for Robby’s mom, Debbie, who has stage 4 cancer, as she was able to see her son live out his “Rudy,” dream.

Since graduation, Robby has joined the Special Olympics Michigan powerlifting team, which unfortunately had to cease all practices and events for 2020. However, that doesn’t stop Robby from training; him and his brother, Charles Heil, 24, spend their time together working out in the basement of their loving parent’s home. Whether it’s dancing in the living room with mom to her favorite song, “If I could can turn back time," by Cher, working out in the basement, baking in the kitchen with mom, or 5-mile bike rides with dad, the Heil family knows how invaluable their time is together and continue to thrive through tough times.

Thank you to both families for sharing your personal stories with us; your lives and amazing young men are an inspiration to those around them and will inspire many more who see our PBS film.