Sick children meet 'N Sync, who have lock on Orlando


By Leslie Doolittle of The Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on August 17, 2000

Shannon Gatchell let her 12-year-old daughter duck out of school early, drove her from Deltona to Orlando and somehow hoisted 80-pound Courtney on her shoulders in 90-plus-degree heat so she could see above a sweaty sea of screeching girls.

"Just to catch a glimpse of `N Sync," said Gatchell, who doesn`t weigh in at much more herself. "What moms won`t do for their only children."

What prompted Gatchell`s maternal heroics?

Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood presented Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick and their Orlando-based manager Johnny Wright keys to the city.

"I hear these work in every door in Orlando," said Chasez, triggering shrieks from the crowd of about 250. "So if you hear someone raiding your fridge at 3 o`clock in the morning, it may be me."

The turnout was far less than the city prepared for, with roadblocks, clusters of motorcycle cops and paramedics. But that was probably because the event started out as one of the group`s McDonald`s contract appearances -- a closed-to-the-public visit with sick children and families staying at The Ronald McDonald House in Orlando.

The guys unveiled a room decorated in their honor.

Their favorite of the themed decor? The bathroom with an `N Sync shower curtain, monogrammed hand towels and musical-note wall paper and tissue holder.

"They should have put `Bye, Bye, Bye` on the toilet paper," joked Fatone, referring to the hit song.

That`s the kind of clowning around mixed with sincere compassion that quickly charmed the children, whom they knelt down to tease and engage in talks about Pokemon characters and video games.

Kirkpatrick delighted a bald, mask-wearing 6-year-old Jonatán Fonseca of Sanford and his bone-marrow-donating brother, David, by asking if they were twins, why weren`t they wearing the same ties?

"Busted," smiled Fatone.

No, these weren`t the awkward encounters of so many uneasy celebrity photo ops.

Wesley Wright, the proud father of the group`s manager and mentor, summed it up best: "I thank God for my son. I taught him about love and respect, and that`s what I saw today."



Please e-mail me at nsync@nsync.freeservers.com