Wii will rock you

When Yuman Mark Lauss won his battle against tonsil cancer, no one could have imagined one of his next battles would be against some of the best tennis players in the world.

Lauss, who was a patient at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in northwest Phoenix, was entered into a contest with other patients and medical staff to play the video game Nintendo Wii tennis against the pros.

Lauss said they got the news he'd won a spot in the tournament while on a family vacation celebrating his one-year anniversary being cancer free.

Lauss, his wife Ginger and step-children Autumn and Miles attended the Second Annual Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships held in northwest Phoenix, in early October, featuring retired tennis champs, where the Wii tournament was also taking place.

Miles had a chance to participate too, Lauss said. And even though he wasn't a patient or staff, Lauss said it was great because caregivers are just as important.

"They might as well have cancer, too," he said. And Lauss said Miles isn't a stranger to tennis. As an avid player he was familiar with the pros.

Lauss and Miles said they weren't experts on the Wii, with Miles playing a few times before and Lauss never having picked up a controller.

"As it turns out, none of the pros had played before either," Lauss said.

They did get a chance to practice a little the day before though, he said.

Lauss was originally slated to play tennis great Andre Agassi.

"But he punked out," Lauss said.

Ginger Lauss said the tournament was a lot of fun.

"All of the pros showed up at the same time," she said.

When everyone was "stretched" and ready to go, the single-elimination, best of three, tournament began.

In the end, the pros won.

Lauss said even though they didn't have any experience, they picked the game up quickly.

"The problem is the pros learned fast," he said. "They learned real, real fast."

Ginger Lauss said everyone, including the pros, had so much fun with it, even when they started to display a little good-natured cockiness.

"It was just so fun, being able to play with the pros," she said. "They were just as real as anyone else you will meet."

And even though both Lauss and Miles were eliminated, they said the experience was definitely fun.

It's just one example, Lauss said, of the way the treatment center helps patients and their families.

"(They host) events like this to try to heal the family," he said. "They take us out for pie once a month."

And there are many more events and small details the make it a great place, he said - not to mention the staff.

Lauss said starting off with a diagnosis of cancer is like a diagnosis of death. And at the treatment center, he said they help people with their mind, body and soul.

"And for the whole family, it's not just a disease you're treating," he said. "You have to watch out for the soul, because if you lose that, you lose the rest."