Typically tasked with taking on some of the country’s most overgrown gardens, lawn-loving Nathan Stafford is about to embark on his biggest challenge yet.
The professional gardener and dad of three will tackle a mammoth 45km walk across Sydney, with his trusty mower in tow — all in the name of helping kids with heart conditions and their families.
The cause is close to home for the Sydney gardener, from Nathan’s Lawns and Gardens, whose eldest son, now 13, underwent open-heart surgery on the first day of his life.
Benji was born with Pulmonary Valve Stenosis, a congenital heart defect affecting roughly one in 10 people with a heart condition.
“It was awful,” Nathan told Yahoo News ahead of his fundraiser walk on Friday, June 5.
Nathan Stafford pictured with his son Benji (left) and his wife Kelly and other children (right).
“We spent three months at Westmead Children’s Hospital and just under a month in intensive care.
“We nearly lost him a few times there; it’s an awful process.”
Stafford raising money for HeartKids with 45km walk
What helped Nathan and his wife, Kelly, through the challenging time, he recalled, was someone from Heartkids — the only Australian heart charity dedicated to supporting families impacted by congenital and childhood-acquired heart diseases — who visited them in the hospital.
“They helped us through a lot,” he said.
The famous gardener’s son, Benji, had open heart surgury the day he was born.
13 years later, Nathan is hoping to return the favour by raising an ambitious $450,000 ahead of his 45km walk.
His aim, he said, is to provide support for families facing similar battles and put more HeartKids staff on the ground.
“There are too many families struggling”, he said.
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Gardener’s tough route across Sydney for charity
Nathan will start his “relentless” journey at Campbelltown Sports Stadium in Sydney’s west and make the 14-hour journey to Leichhardt Oval on foot , while pushing his lawnmower.
The gardener admits it’s the furthest he’s ever walked and has planned for only two 10-minute breaks.
Nathan Stafford has built up a following online thanks to his garden transformations.
“It will be tough, relentless, and require serious effort,” he said.
“But there are a lot of kids out there who didn’t give up”.
Nathan is pleading with Aussies to get behind the cause and take part where they can.
You can donate and read more about Nathan’s lawn mower walk here.
Nathan will be completing the 45km walk while pushing a lawnmower.
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