Ron Butschle admits it. He didn't just care about winning, he was consumed with it.

Now don't get the wrong impression. Seneca Valley High School's football coach still thrives on winning. But when you're a coach with a 1 1/2-year-old son battling a possible fatal disease, suddenly those Friday night games don't mean as much.

"I pray that Nate is going to have a healthy life, but I know there are no tomorrows promised with him," Butschle said. "He's definitely changed my outlook on life."

Nate is Butschle's son who is trying to beat Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), a rare disease in which too many white blood cells grow in certain tissues and organs and damage them. The disease primarily affects children and is treated much the same way as cancer. Nate has undergone chemotherapy treatments since March and will finish the treatments in a few weeks. Butschle said doctors hope they can get the disease into remission.

These are certainly trying times for Butschle. Trying to get Seneca Valley to the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs is one of his goals. Part of his inspiration is an adorable, blonde 18-month-old boy who jumps into his arms on the field before some games.

"I love people who are fighters, beat odds and overcome adversity," said Butschle, 43. "He doesn't know the odds he's overcoming. He doesn't know that chemotherapy is supposed to kick your rear end, and you're not supposed to be able to get up and want to play after you've had chemotherapy. But that's what he does.

"He's taken all this like a champ. You can tell he's a battler. That doesn't come from me. He just does it. He's an inspiration to me."

But how does a high school football coach deal with an ill child and the long hours of coaching? Butschle has plenty of support from his family, but said, "My coaches have told me, and my players know this, that I haven't quite been myself this year. I'm probably a little edgier. The stress of having a sick child is something you don't understand until you have been through it."

Nate had chronic ear infections in the first year of his life and "some funky rashes," his father said. Those are some symptoms of LCH. But a sore in the roof of the toddler's mouth was what made doctors start running tests.

"It was like a crater in his mouth," Butschle said. "[Later] we found out that was a sign that [the disease] was in his digestive system. It's there and also in his skin."

Butschle thought about giving up coaching after finding out about Nate's illness. Butschle also is an English teacher at Seneca Valley's intermediate school.

He is in his fourth season as the Raiders' coach after four seasons at Sto-Rox. He guided Sto-Rox to the 2003 WPIAL Class A championship game.

One of the things that brought Butschle back was his players. Last spring, not long after finding out about Nate's disease, Seneca Valley's senior players had 3,000 light blue bracelets made with "KEEP SWINGIN' NATE" written on them. "Keep Swingin" was the team motto for the 2007 team. The bracelets were sold for $2.

"I think they sold just about every one of them and then set up a trust fund for Nate," Butschle said. "I can't even put into words how that made me feel -- and they did it on their own."

Butschle lives in Moon and has two older children (Ron Jr., 20, and Jennifer, 16) from a previous marriage.

"My other children were part of my coaching," Butschle said. "They were water boys and water girls. They'd come to practice. I want Nate to do those same things. I want him to experience football, but I also want to take him to do things like fishing and bike riding."

Butschle missed some summer workouts because of Nate's illness. Butschle also missed one practice this season.

"I think the football field is kind of like his sanctuary," said C.J. Brown, Seneca Valley's standout quarterback. "There are times when he's a little on edge, but I think everyone respects that. But football is where he can go and get his mind off other personal matters.

"It's hard seeing Nate because he always looks so happy. You look at him and say, 'Wow, how can this happen to a kid like this?' It's sad."

Butschle said he can't thank his players, coaches and Seneca Valley's community enough for their support in his ordeal.

"When it first happens, you cry and you have a little pity party," Butschle said. "Now I feel so lucky, just to have Nate and see the kindness of people. It's hard for me to talk about the kindness. I've had total strangers send checks to me. People have put food at my door."

Butschle tells of a story from this summer when he and Nate were at Children's Hospital for a treatment. Butschle recognized John Challis, an 18-year-old Freedom High School athlete who also was at the hospital for a cancer treatment. Challis' battle with cancer and his inspiring way of dealing with the disease had been in the news in Pittsburgh. Challis died in August.

Butschle got emotional when talking about the meeting.

"John and his parents were walking toward me and I recognized him," Butschle said. "I went up to him and told him what an inspiration he was. His reaction was, 'I'm not doing anything but trying to show others how to deal with a bad situation.' And you know what? All he wanted to do was talk about my son and how he was doing.

"I gave him a hug and he felt like a bag of bones. I thanked him and his parents. It was a brief meeting, but touching. ... Maybe my son could inspire someone like John did."