FREDONIA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- One of the many heartbreaking things about kids with cancer is that the disease steals their precious days of childhood. Things other kids do every day, they can't do. 

On Tuesday, Aug. 15, about 50 kids from the oncology department at Children's Wisconsin got to shake off their hospital robes and play outdoors at a camp in Fredonia. 

This week, the Jewish Community Center is taking children from hospitals to its Rainbow Day Camp, where they can run, climb, hike, explore nature and eat like campers. 

How is this possible? The secret is the volunteers who are watching over the kids are medical professionals from hometown hospitals, like Katie Casper. 

She's a nurse practitioner who works at Children's Wisconsin.

"I never get to see kids this active at work so it's really fun to see them running around," said Casper. "I've had kids run past me going to get food, climbing the wall, doing archery... The goal is to let kids be kids for the day." 

"Some of these kids have some serious diseases and they can't go to a regular camp. But because we have doctors and nurses here, they can come and join us for the day," said Lenny Kass, JCC Rainbow Day Camp executive director. 

The Jewish Community Center is working with Northwestern Mutual Foundation to run the camp for hospitalized kids through Friday, Aug. 18.