COLUMBUS, Ohio — Professional golf is back in Columbus, and while the Nationwide Children’s Championship doesn’t draw nearly the amount of attention that the Memorial does in June, it’s still a big golf tournament that supports a worthy cause.

What You Need To Know

  • Nationwide Children’s Championship returns to Columbus to raise money for pediatric cancer research

  • Roman Darby, who was diagnosed with absence seizures, was named one of this year’s patient champions

  • Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship has raised more than $25 million in support of pediatric cancer since it started in 2007

Roman Darby seems like your average 12-year-old, but he’s been through the wringer.

"I'm just really glad to be here,” he said, “and not have any seizures anymore."

Roman Darby was diagnosed with absence seizures when he was only 3-years-old. (Courtesy of the Darby family)

His family said when he was 3 years old, they thought something was wrong when he was experiencing frequent ear infections and strep throat, but after a trip to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, they learned the truth. He was experiencing absence seizures. 

"It was like staring spells,” Roman’s mom Misty Darby said. “So, he would just like check out and not remember like what was happening, and then he'd kind of just come back to it."

After seven years of medication and hospital visits, Darby became seizure free and is going strong two years later – so much so that Nationwide Children’s Championship named him one of its patient champions this year. It's a golf event on the PGA’s developmental tour designed to raise money for pediatric cancer research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital — something even the professionals get to be a part of. 

"It's awesome. I mean, it’s fun seeing just the kids, their face light up,” professional golfer Matthew Riedel said. “I think the world just needs kindness and kindness, and I just I feel like we kind of owe it to each other just to give back and to help out."

Misty Darby hopes her son’s story sends others a message of strength: "Hope it helps everybody to stay positive and hope that there's that light at the end of the tunnel. "

Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship has raised more than $25 million in support of pediatric cancer since it started in 2007.