COLUMBUS, Ohio — This year’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship is well underway, so that means fans are traveling far and wide.
It looks like a golf tournament, like any other filled with excited fans, passionate for the game, and some fierce competition, but for Reid Zupanc, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship is so much more.
“I’m really happy it’s here,” said Reid.
The tournament’s proceeds go toward pediatric cancer research, and every year, one patient battling cancer is honored. This year it’s Reid, and he’s only 16 years old.
His mom, Lani Zupanc, says their journey fighting the disease began when he was two years old.
“He fell, and we noticed that like a pea size bump right on the top of his head,” Lani said. “The regular doctor had said that it was just fatty tissue, and it was common, but it should go away.”
But later, they learned it was cancer, and by that time, he was five years old.
“Yeah, it was it was hard,” said Lani. “It was hard, knowing that your five year old may not make it, not knowing what to expect.”
Reid was diagnosed with an extremely rare vascular cancer, affecting the lining of the blood vessels in the liver and lungs. But in Reid’s case, it was even rarer because of the area of growth in his head. So far, he’s been through six months of chemotherapy and more than 15 surgeries.
Source: 17th Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship helps fight pediatric cancer
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