from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune,

Zach Parise touches a white friendship bracelet on his right wrist. He turns it over and reveals the special inscription: “la vie a ses bons moments.”

“It means, ‘Life has its good moments,’ ” Parise says, staring intently at the words. “My mom made it for friends and family.”

With sad eyes, the Wild forward looks up: “Growing up, that’s what Dad always told us when things were going a little wrong.”

For the past seven months, J.P. Parise, the popular former North Stars forward and proud father of Zach and Jordan Parise, has been in the toughest battle of his life. Last winter, while Zach was captaining the United States in the Olympics, J.P. woke up with kidney stones.

“I went to the doctor, took a CT scan and the doc said, ‘There’s a black spot on your left lung that I don’t like,’ ” J.P. Parise said, recalling the words that turned his life upside down.

Days later, he would receive a diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, the most advanced form of the disease.

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