These kids know big hills. They’ve been climbing them for years.

This time, though, they did it for fun.

Pediatric cancer patients Lauren Johnson of Lincoln and Dylan Odom of York were part of the group that spent Feb. 15-19 at the annual Circle of Friends winter funfest in Wausau, Wis.

The kids went tubing, skiing, swimming, bowling — you name it.

“Tubing was my favorite,” said Lauren, a sixth-grader at Scott Middle School. “It was like a big tire, kind of, and it pulled you up this huge hill, and then the big football players pushed you down. It was really fun. You went really fast.”

Former Husker Grant Wistrom, who organizes the Circle of Friends gatherings with Seattle Seahawks teammate Jerry Wunsch through the Grant Wistrom Foundation, couldn’t make the winter trip this year.

After the Feb. 5 Super Bowl, Wistrom got married and underwent shoulder surgery in a span of several days.

But many other current and former NFL players participated.  Lauren is now best buds with ex-Husker Jared Tomich. The two painted their heads for Disco Bowling night.

“We had a really good time,” Tomich said. “She’s a very nice girl. That whole group from Nebraska was a lot of fun.”

Dylan Odom, a third-grader from York, said the highlight for him was having ex-Husker Chris Kelsay, now with the Buffalo Bills, throw him “20 feet” in the air during a swimming session.

There were 39 pediatric cancer patients on the trip — four from Nebraska — and Tomich said the young campers had little time for sitting around, starting with a tour of the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field.

“From the time we’re there till the time we leave, our days are just packed with activities,” Tomich said. “I think that’s one of the best parts for the kids. There’s never a down time.”

Lauren said she hung out with her Nebraska friends — Dylan, Kim and Jake — as well as girls from Georgia, Iowa and New York.

The only thing she wasn’t crazy about was skiing.

“It wasn’t that fun,” she said. “I kept falling over and hurting myself. I was doing the splits and falling, and it wasn’t that pretty.”

The group will have a summer reunion gathering with Wistrom in Seattle.

Tomich, who lives in northwest Indiana and owns restaurants and a construction company, recently started his own Halo of Hope Foundation to bring more awareness to children’s cancer.

He said it’s easy to find football players to help the cause after they go on one of these trips.

“You talk to them afterwards, and they’re completely on board,” he said. “It’s a pretty neat deal.”

Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.

On the Web

www.grantwistrom.net

www.friendsoflauren.com