"We went there hoping to put some smiles on their faces, but they put smiles on our faces," said center Hroniss Grasu. "It was really awesome to see how positive the kids were. We want to win all these games, but when you visit these kids it really puts a lot of things in perspective. You really appreciate what you have and being able to wake up every morning and not have all those wires and tubes connected to you. They were still so happy and positive and it was really just a great experience."

A total of 26 Bears players visited the kids. In addition to Braunecker and Grasu, the group included Adrian Amos, Prince Amukamara, Jonathan Bullard, Mike Glennon, Jordan Howard, Nick Kwiatkoski, Patrick O'Donnell, Danny Trevathan, Mitchell Trubisky, Kevin White and Cody Whitehair.

Others who also participated were Jonathan Anderson, Daniel Brown, Michael Burton, Bryce Callahan, Rashaad Coward, Andrew DePaola, Deiondre' Hall, John Jenkins, Eric Kush, Jordan Morgan, Patrick Scales, Nelson Spruce and Colin Thompson.

"It was a lot of fun," Brown said. "It's hard to see kids struggling like that, but it's nice when you get to go down there and put a smile on their faces. Some of them were kind of shy when they saw big people walk in, but when they opened up it was a lot of fun. I saw a lot of smiles today."