From their hospital room, the patients can see Ohio Stadium.

The Horseshoe must seem a world away, but members of the Ohio State football team bridged that gap Monday. Six players — J.T. Barrett, Tracy Sprinkle, Nick Bosa, Tuf Borland, Jaylen Harris and Jeffrey Okudah — visited patients at the James Cancer Hospital.

Barrett, Okudah and Harris chatted with Choice Vaughan, a 22-year-old with sickle cell anemia. Vaughan is a former football and basketball player, and they bantered about the NBA — their favorite teams and players — like old friends.

“I wish I was going out there with you instead of on this hospital bed,” Vaughan told them.

This might have been the next-best thing.

“It means a lot to me,” Vaughan said. “I’ve been watching their games, and just being at the hospital, it gives me the courage to have that mindset to keep pushing and fighting for what I want to do in my life.”

Kimberly Church-White is an Ohio State graduate in a family full of them. Her daughter is a freshman at OSU. For 10 years, she has fought multiple myeloma. She was admitted earlier this month for pain management.

She acknowledged that she’s not much of a football fan, but she appreciated the visit nonetheless.

“It was really a thrill,” Church-White said.

The visit was the idea of OSU director of player development Ryan Stamper. The Buckeyes are off this week before their showdown against Penn State on Oct. 28, so players have some rare spare time.

“Our relationship with the James has gone on at least since I got here in 2012,” Stamper said. “We come out pretty often. At Ohio State, since the Woody Hayes days, pay it forward has been huge here.”

For some of the players, the visit had particular meaning. Okudah, a freshman cornerback from Texas, lost his mom to lymphoma in January.

“Right before I left to go to college, she was in hospice,” he said. “That was very tough on me, going to a different state with a situation back home you have no control of.

“Coming over here and having a chance to make an impact on people, having seen your mom struggle, you know it makes a world of difference. When I was offered an opportunity to come here by coach Stamp, I jumped on it.”

So did Harris, a freshman wide receiver from Cleveland. He watched two grandparents die of pancreatic cancer in the past few years. He said he spent every spare minute he had visiting with them.

“I know what their families are going through and the patients are going through,” he said.

Barrett said it took him awhile to grasp the power to affect people that a prominent Ohio State player has. He considers himself just a normal person, but now he knows that others crave interaction with him.

“People can donate money and material things, but the value of giving people your time is something people really cherish,” he said. “When families are going through a hard time like cancer, that’s something everybody can relate to, whether you know somebody or had a family member go through it.

“To share a little time and lift their spirits in their down time is good. If you treated them well, that’s something they’ll remember for a very long time.”

John Houghtling, from Troy, Ohio, is being treated for lymphoma. He posed for pictures with the players that he — or as he joked, his wife — will send to their children.

“It was really nice to meet them,” Houghtling said. “They’re very good ballplayers, but also very nice young men.”

A large media contingent was invited to accompany the players on the visit, so there was a public-relations element to it. But the emotions and caring were genuine.

“You stay up, brother,” Barrett said to Choice Vaughan as the players left his room.

Vaughan thanked him, mentioned the Penn State game, and added one request.

“Let me know when I can get tickets to the game,” he said.

Brabinowitz@dispatch.com

@brdispatch