Ohio State soccer player Nathan Demian returns to the field eight months after surviving a drive-by shooting.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Eight months after being shot in the abdomen during a drive-by incident, Ohio State soccer player Nathan Demian is back on the field — stronger, grateful and more determined than ever.
Demian was caught in the crossfire last year when police said two vehicles were chasing each other when one driver fired at the other, but instead struck Demian in the abdomen, according to the Columbus Division of Police.
“It was the hardest eight months of my life,” Demian said. “After my final surgery I contracted a stomach bug in the hospital called C. diff, which we didn’t realize I had for a month and a half. It kind of destroyed all the progress we made.”
Now, as the whistle blows on Saturday to kick off his final season, Demian said he’s not taking a single moment for granted.
“I shouldn’t necessarily be here right now,” he said. “And the fact that I am, the fact that I can wake up every day, the fact that I can go and work out, the ability to go to the field, the ability to hang out with people — just so, so grateful for that.”
Demian’s comeback is more than physical. It’s a mental and emotional triumph, one that’s inspired those closest to him — including his younger brother Joel, who transferred to Ohio State last semester and will join Nathan on the back line this season.
“I’m very proud,” Joel Demian said. “Being with him after the incident, seeing how he’s managed it mentally, emotionally, physically — it’s been a lot, but it definitely brought us a lot closer.”
For the first time, the Demian brothers will play side by side in what promises to be a season they’ll never forget.
10TV asked Nathan what it meant to hear his younger brother call him an inspiration.
“It’s probably nicer than he says to me,” Nathan joked. “It’s an honor for sure. They’re obviously very inspirational with everything I went through — and my team, how they just all dropped everything and were by my side.”
Demian’s body bears the marks of his ordeal: a long scar down his torso, a bullet wound, surgical incisions and lingering numbness. But he refuses to let those define him.
“I have all these excuses,” he said. “But where does that get me?”
With grit, gratitude and a little luck, Demian is betting on the Scarlet and Gray this season — and they’re betting on him.
This article was published by Kristen McFarland on 2025-08-07 19:51:00
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