In an oncology area of The University of Kansas Hospital, three men in Kansas City Chiefs jerseys, smiling and laughing together, work their way from room to room.
A gray-haired woman, a cancer patient, catches a glimpse of them in the hallway as she is undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
"Come back here!" she yells. "You need to take a picture with me because my kids are going to be so jealous!"
Pro Football Hall of Famer Bobby Bell, former Chiefs defensive tackle Bill Maas and former Chiefs tight end Walter White turn around and happily oblige. White tells her that it would be best if she uses the photo as her Christmas card this year.
The woman's spirits are visibly raised after the five-minute visit, and the Chiefs Ambassadors move along to the next room.
"I like to see that. That's the upbeat," Bell said of meeting with the woman. "When people are like that, they're going to beat the thing. They tell us that she runs around the hallway and she beats everybody. She jogs around there, and that's good.
"That's good to see that. You see the eyes light up. 'Oh my gosh. You got Chiefs players here.' It makes their day."
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Kansas City Chiefs Ambassadors visited with patients at The University of Kansas Hospital on Wednesday.
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Staff members on hand at The University of Kansas Hospital agree.
"It gives them something to look forward to in the day," nurse manager Jaime Milnes said. "Sometimes it helps us get them through the treatments, so it really brightens their day. It's something that they brag to their families about, that they got to meet some of these guys."
As Bell, Maas and White travel through oncology, Pro Football Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud, former wide receiver Chris Penn and former defensive end Dave Lindstrom visit the children's wing. Similar in manner to the way Bell handles his hospital trips, Lindstrom utilizes humor to help boost the moods of patients.
"It helps them forget the serious nature of why they're here, and it lightens it up a little bit," Lindstrom explained, "and it's like any time you're in a conversation with someone, humor just makes you feel better. There's a lot to be said for smiling and having fun."
By trip's end, the Chiefs Ambassadors in attendance spent time in four different hospital wings.
"This is one of the things we try to do with the alumni—we try to keep guys involved in the community, and go back and forth," Bell said of the Ambassador program. "We started this all, what? 25 or 30 years ago? It's getting involved. We had about 20 guys that started this, and we're just trying to keep contact with the current players, the alumni and the community, we try to keep that together.
"We don't go away, and that's why you see a lot of the guys still here in town."
