Nine-year-old Lance Nicholds of Athens can't ever forget that he has cancer.
But thanks to former NFL offensive lineman and Wausau native Jerry Wunsch, Lance could take his mind off it while he and other children with cancer and other diseases zoomed down the hill on inner tubes at Sylvan Hill Park in Wausau.
Wunsch and several of his NFL friends, including Mike Alstott of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former Packer Bill Schroeder, are leading Lance and about 19 other children on an annual winter trip called Circle of Friends Winter Weekend. The children are patients of the Cancer Center in Tampa Bay, Fla., the Children's Hospital of Milwaukee, Camp Sunshine in Atlanta, the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital in Marshfield.
This year's trip started Wednesday with a jaunt to Green Bay and tour of Lambeau Field. On Thursday, the group went tubing at Sylvan and bowling at Dale's Weston Lanes. Other activities will include skiing at Granite Peak and snowmobiling before the children return to their homes Sunday.
Wunsch, who played for the Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks, has been leading these winter respites for a dozen years, serving more than 400 children. In the process, Wunsch's passion for the project has done nothing but grow.
"Cancer isn't a cause that you choose," said Wunsch, 36, a 1992 Wausau West High School graduate, now of Belleair, Fla. "It chooses you."
Cancer chose Wunsch when his cousin's wife got melanoma. Before she died, he promised that he would help people fighting the disease in any way he could.
The winter outing allows children to "just live life," Wunsch said.
Children also get to meet new friends who are also battling disease.
"It helps me to understand that I'm not the only person going through cancer," Lance said.
Plus, he thought it was really cool to stand on Lambeau Field.
"This program is just wonderful," said Heidi Giese, a child life manager at Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital and a counselor for the children in the program.
The children "can just forget about the medical stuff," she said. "Any time kids can be in fun activities such as this, it can help with the healing process."