One step at a time, Vienna teen walks a day for the cure

The Liberty relay raised $180,000 for cancer research.
By AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- It's 4 p.m. and Nathan R. Bohach has been walking for 22 hours.
Despite aching in every bone of his body, Nathan had determined to finish the 24-hour walk at the Liberty Relay For Life. He was walking in memory of his grandfather, Floyd R. Ramsey, who lost a long battle with lung cancer in February 2004.
Nathan, a Mathews High School freshman, grew so tired during last month's event that, at about 2:30 a.m., he walked into the fence -- and bruised his ribs.
"I was so tired I fell asleep walking" he said.
Nathan said he wouldn't have made it for 24 hours if his friend Brandi Kail, a Liberty High School senior, hadn't walked with him the last few hours.
Nathan was one of nine 24-hour walkers who participated at the Liberty Relay, held May 19 and 20, said volunteer chairwoman Carole Weimer. Twenty-four hour participants walk 50 minutes and then are allotted a 10-minute break every hour.
The Liberty Relay raised $180,000 for cancer research, Weimer said.
Nathan is an example of an exemplary teenager, his mother, Cindy, said.
"He's really good with people and always helpful and polite," she said. "He's a good student who doesn't get involved with alcohol or drugs."
Nathan's grandmother Marylou Ramsey said he she was especially impressed by Nathan's relationship with her husband.
"He's so exceptional for being so young," she said.
Nathan took care of his grandfather while he was ill and even took him around Walt Disney World in a wheelchair during a family vacation, Ramsey said.
"He wouldn't let anyone else help him," Ramsey said.
Nathan also saved his grandfather's life, Ramsey said. When he was 11, Nathan alerted emergency personnel when he recognized Ramsey's oxygen machine wasn't working.
"I could tell by the sound of the machine that it wasn't right," he said.
Other activities
Nathan, 15, lives in Vienna with his mother; father, Bob; and his younger sister, Katie, 8.
When he isn't playing soccer or running track for Mathews, Nathan enjoys hunting and fishing.
After high school, he would like to attend the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics or the University of Akron to study airplane design.
Nathan said he became interested in airplane design in fifth grade.
After Sept. 11, 2001, he began working on a design to make an airplane's cockpit impenetrable to terrorists. Nathan's design would have automatic sliding doors to capture anyone who tried to break in to the cockpit. One door would prevent them from getting in with the pilots, and the other door would block them from the passengers.
Nathan is also working on a script for a feature film about a Martian invasion called "They Came."
"I can't reveal any details," he said. "Just tell Spielberg to call me."
agarrett@vindy.com