Family and friends show big Closer to Free Ride support for Guilford teen battling cancer

Surrounded in a room filled with hockey memories, it’s easy to see the bond Nate Ponzio and his dad Paul share over the game.

“I, like, kind of just looking at everything, because it's like me and his thing,” Nate said.

“I love watching him play. I’ve been watching him play since he was four,” dad Paul said.

More than a decade later, Nate is a rising senior playing center for Guilford High School.

“I played my first three seasons, and then hopefully I can play my senior year,” Nate said, adding that he finished last season with 40 goals in 18 games.

“It's probably the best season I’ve had playing, like, at all," he continued.

But he also had a lingering pain when the season ended.

“I was doing physical therapy, I was trying to work out, like, just nothing was helping," Nate said.

Within a month, they found out he had Ewing sarcoma. The tumor was pushing against the nerves in his leg.

“He finished up 33 rounds of radiation, he's finished up six rounds of chemo, and his last - and seventh - round of chemo will be the second week of September,” Paul said.

He’s getting treatment out-of-state, but a family friend and neighbor Stacy Votto wanted to do something. So, she created Closer to Free team “Ponz Pucks up Cancer.”

More than 20 family, friends and hockey teammates have joined the fundraising team for the Sept. 7 ride.

“I think it's awesome because nobody should ever have to go through something like battling cancer, it's the hardest thing I've ever done,” Nate said. “I think it will be the hardest thing I ever do. So, just seeing that everybody cares, and everybody is trying to raise money to help people in my situation who are less fortunate. It's just nice.”

So far, the team brought in $20,000 for Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital in Nate’s name.

All of the money raised through the Closer to Free Ride goes back to patient support, research and treatment. While Nate isn’t being treated at Smilow, Paul points out that’s the reason why the ride is important.

His wife and Nate’s mom was treated for breast cancer there in the fall of 2021.

“People should be giving and donating to these types of programs, even though they don't have any association with them, because there's people out there that need help," she said.

This is the family’s first Closer to Free Ride. Paul and daughter Paige will be on the team and plan to go 20 miles while Nate and mom Sue wait at the finish line.

“I think it'll be a little bit of an escape, right?” Paul said. “You know, everyone's under a lot of pressure and stress when they're going through this, and I think it'll offer the opportunity to just forget about it for a while and really just have a good time with everybody.”

Thousands of people will be out there cheering on nearly 2,000 riders. Among them will be Nate.

“It'll be cool seeing my sister and my dad, or just like other people I know, and see him huffing and puffing on the bike,” Nate said, poking fun at his dad.

And just like Paul cheers on Nate while he’s on the ice, they plan to get through the ride and cancer together.

“We're like Frick and Frack sometimes, but yeah, we get there,” Paul said, giving Nate a fist bump.