COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — On Dec. 7, 2024, the Ohio State men’s soccer team rushed the field at Jesse Owens Stadium and gathered to celebrate punching their ticket to the program’s second ever NCAA College Cup.

Hours later, the team gathered again. Only this time it was at a hospital as starting defenseman Nathan Demian was fighting for his life after being shot.

The season has now ended as has Demian’s time in the hospital. But his recovery continues.

“I never thought I was gonna die the whole time because I never knew how serious it was,” Demian said. He spoke with a smile and a laugh and almost at the level of a whisper because his left vocal chord is still in slight paralysis from all the tubes he’s had down his throat.

Sitting on a couch inside Ohio State’s Schumaker Complex, he casually shared what happened the night he got shot like he was simply talking about getting a splinter in his finger.

“I thought they were just going to take the bullet out and I was playing on Friday,” Demian said.

Dec. 7, 2024 was a day that Demian and his Ohio State soccer teammates had been working toward for years. The Buckeyes beat Wake Forest 3-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals, advancing to the Buckeyes’ second-ever appearance in the men’s soccer national semifinals, called the College Cup.

Then, in the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 8, Demian wanted a slice of pizza. While out walking on Chittenden Avenue, he saw two cars whip around the corner and then heard the gunshot.

“And I was unfortunate to be the one who got hit,” he said. “I thought I was fine. I knew I got shot because of the sound but I thought I was fine because I was still able to walk. We called 911. I was able to talk to the police officers. I walked to the ambulance. I felt [the bullet] in me. There was like a bulge and I thought they were just gonna take it out and I would be ready to play.”

The bullet went in through Demian’s lower right abdomen, cutting all the way across before resting in his back left abdomen. What he didn’t know, because he couldn’t see, was that the bullet completely tore up his intestines.

“They opened me up and the blood started gushing out so they actually weren’t even able to operate on me that day. Like, there was too much blood to operate,” he said. “They kept giving me blood to try to keep me alive. My vitals were going crazy and the surgeon called my mom and said I was going to code which means basically he’s going to die. They thought I was going to die.”

He didn’t. Demian survived that night.

And he survived the surgery to try to save as much intestine as possible. Doctors were able to save enough so he would be able to eat relatively regularly moving forward.

“They thought I was going to need a feeding tube for the rest of my life. They were able to recover 300 centimeters, which is like what a normal person has,” Demian said.

He almost died a second time after a gastro-intestinal bleed, but once again fought through.

“I didn’t know this at the time, which was probably better because I would’ve been a lot more stressed. And I was just so angry because I knew I wasn’t going to play on Friday,” Demian said. “Then you find out that you have a one percent chance of living and you understand how God has blessed you and God has given you a second chance at life.”

And Demian hopes for another chance to play in a College Cup. After three weeks in the hospital, he went home with still a lot of milestones to hit. But that ultimate one is still there.

“The goal is to play this fall so it will depend on when I get my next surgery and my next operation,” he said. “So there’s still a lot of like things I have to like work through. It’s changed my life for sure. But to know where I could have been, to know where I am now, you do have to like have a little bit of a positive outlook on.”

He’s not working through things alone. Demian said he still feels incredibly lucky to have had his Ohio State soccer family and Columbus community with him the entire time, even helping his actual family as they flew in from Vancouver, Toronto, and other places.

“It’s obviously a very traumatic experience for them as well. And they go to Target and people are helping them out and doing these things,” Nathan said. “Like one time, they went to a cafe and the worker there was like, ‘Oh, my daughter heard about what’s happening and some sort of lemonade stand is like raising money!’ Just like little things like that and stuff. It sucks what happened. But it’s made me feel better about this place because of how many people like to support.”

And that support hasn’t left: Demian’s brother, Joel, has transferred to Ohio State from Indiana to play soccer for the Buckeyes. It was a move already planned before the shooting happened. But now, the timing is even better for the brothers to reunite as roommates.

“Not everyone has people who are around them to help them. So I’m very fortunate for Ohio State and everything they’ve done for me in this situation,” Demian said. “I have a meal plan now to kind of get me back too because I lost so much weight. It’s just to kind of to get me back to where I was before and to kind of continue on that path. Not everyone has opportunities like that.”

Along the path, there are some smaller goals to check off as well.

“I really like chicken McNuggets but I’ve had to stay away from that. But one day I want to have just one,” he said.

That’s when Demian will know he has made it all the way back.