John Cena's countless hours of work meeting with Make-A-Wish children is no secret.

It turns out that wasn't Cena's call.

According to Paul Heyman, Cena never wanted to make those visits public.

"I don't have the words to convey the admiration I have for John Cena as a human being," Heyman said on Rick Rubin's Tetragrammaton podcast (h/t Wrestling News' Michael Schrute).

"There had to come a point in time where Vince had to sit down with John and say, 'You need to let me go public with these Make-A-Wish visits. You have to. You know you're hurting Make-A-Wish by not allowing me to do that because if people understood how much of your time you give to Make-A-Wish and to these kids, they'll be inclined to contribute.

"They'll be inclined to get involved. You will help them if you allow this,' because Cena never wanted to exploit it. He never wanted publicity for it. He never wanted recognition for it. He wanted to just do it. That's a hero."

Cena has set a world record of at least 650 visits to Make-A-Wish children over the course of his career in WWE. Many visits have found their way into WWE programming over the years, giving the children a national spotlight and helping build Cena's reputation as one of the sports world's most giving celebrities.

Cena has continued to work with Make-A-Wish regularly even since stepping away from full-time wrestling to pursue his acting career. As Heyman notes, it's a testament to his giving nature that even as his star rises, he continues to give back.