{"id":53411,"date":"2025-08-08T01:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/53411\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T01:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:58:06","slug":"nathan-demians-inspiring-return-to-ohio-state-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/53411\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Demian’s inspiring return to Ohio State soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State soccer player Nathan Demian returns to the field eight months after surviving a drive-by shooting.<\/p>\n

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Eight months after being shot in the abdomen during a drive-by incident, Ohio State soccer player Nathan Demian is back on the field \u2014 stronger, grateful and more determined than ever.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Ohio State soccer player making ‘miraculous’ recovery after being struck by stray bullet<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the hardest eight months of my life,\u201d Demian said. \u201cAfter 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as the whistle blows on Saturday to kick off his final season, Demian said he\u2019s not taking a single moment for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn’t necessarily be here right now,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd 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 \u2014 just so, so grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demian\u2019s comeback is more than physical. It\u2019s a mental and emotional triumph, one that\u2019s inspired those closest to him \u2014 including his younger brother Joel, who transferred to Ohio State last semester and will join Nathan on the back line this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very proud,\u201d Joel Demian said. \u201cBeing with him after the incident, seeing how he’s managed it mentally, emotionally, physically \u2014 it’s been a lot, but it definitely brought us a lot closer.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: ‘Thank you’: Ohio State men’s soccer player discharged from hospital after University District shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time, the Demian brothers will play side by side in what promises to be a season they\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n

10TV asked Nathan what it meant to hear his younger brother call him an inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably nicer than he says to me,\u201d Nathan joked. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor for sure. They\u2019re obviously very inspirational with everything I went through \u2014 and my team, how they just all dropped everything and were by my side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demian\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have all these excuses,\u201d he said. \u201cBut where does that get me?\u201d<\/p>\n

With grit, gratitude and a little luck, Demian is betting on the Scarlet and Gray this season \u2014 and they\u2019re betting on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio State soccer player Nathan Demian returns to the field eight months after surviving a drive-by shooting. COLUMBUS,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-53411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}