EAGLE, Idaho — In 2014, KTVB profiled two amazing young brothers from Eagle, Idaho. Noah and Lucas Aldrich are known as the Triathlon Brothers. Older brother Noah pushes and pulls his younger brother Lucas, who has disabilities, through the race. Lucas was born with a rare brain condition called Lissencephaly.
"We kind of had a choice when Lucas was born, we could keep him home and safe and away from germs in a box, or we could go out and live life," said Alissa Aldrich, Noah and Lucas' mom. "We decided Lucas needs to go out and experience life with us."
The first time Noah and Lucas were featured as KTVB's 7's Heroes they had just done their first triathlon.
"At the time, Noah was 8 and Lucas was 6 and they did their first triathlon together," said Alissa. "It was kind of an all-new adventure for all of us."
After the story aired, life changed in a big way for the Aldrich family.
"The Today Show came out a couple weeks later and filmed a race, and that went viral! Suddenly we were getting calls from all over the country, and we had a lot of opportunities to share their story of brotherly love with the world. We were also featured on HBO's Real Sports," Alissa said. "Lucas's lissencephaly causes complications, he can't walk he can't talk, he uses a feeding tube, sleeps on a ventilator at night and you know he has multiple disabilities, but he is the happiest guy you'll ever know, and he just has a zest for life. When he was diagnosed, doctors gave us a 50/50 chance he'd make it to 10."
Today, Lucas is 16. He's defying the odds, and he is thriving. Big brother Noah is 18. We have followed the brothers for years.
"For as long as I can remember, it's been really hard to include Luke in any traditional kind of sports," said Noah Aldrich, 18. "One day My mom approached me with this video of two other brothers, one disabled, one not, competing in a tri together and I thought well, there there's our chance. Weeks after that we started training."
Noah said he remembers being nervous, and wondering if he could push and pull his little brother through each portion of the race.
"Yeah, it was terrifying," Noah said. "That first triathlon was very scary. But we got through it and now ten years later, we are 40 triathlons down."
This summer, the brothers competed in the Treasure Valley Triathlon in Boise. This time, it was a family affair.
"We did it as a team event this year," said Alissa, Noah and Lucas' mom. "So, we had Becky Walters pulling Lucas on the swim, Noah did the bike, and I did the run. Becky Walters is so special to us. She is an adaptive athlete, and all-around awesome person. She does adaptive swimming, and she was one of the boys' first coaches."
After all of these years cheering for her boys, Alissa loved being a part of it.
"It was definitely different being in the race instead of being on the sidelines. It was so much fun," Alissa said.
Noah said he was excited to have his mom and his coach be a part of the race.
"This is obviously a really special thing that we do together, and being able to include people that have been a crucial part of this experience has been really, really special," Noah said. "We did really well and I'm really happy. I think Luke had a really good time he got to go pretty fast."
Noah just graduated from Eagle High School, and he's headed to college in Oregon this fall. It's bittersweet. The brothers will be separated for the first time.
"I don't think there's ever been an extended period of time where we haven't been together," Noah said.
But Noah added they will compete whenever they can. After over 40 triathlons and inspiring people all over the world, they can't stop now.
"I think more than anything we have taught a story about hope and perseverance, showing that anything is possible no matter what your circumstances are, there's still a solution, there's a way to get through it," Noah said.
You can follow the brothers on Facebook.