A Glenn Innes Magpie Junior, Nathan Stapleton is a former winger, fullback and centre for the Cronulla Sharks, playing 61 matches and scoring 104 points in his 5 years in the NRL between 2009 and 2014. On April 9, 2022, Nathan was playing country rugby for the Boorowa Goldies when he was caught in a ruck accident, resulting in severe damage to his spinal cord at the C4 vertebrae. So critical was his injury, Nathan was initially believed to have died in the 16 minutes he lay motionless on the field. 

After surviving that ordeal, his wife Kate was faced with the trauma of Nathan potentially having a significant brain injury – however Nathan once again defied the odds and fought back to see the birth of his second child Angus, a little brother to Harry. Although he faces the rest of his life in a wheelchair with the assistance of a ventilator, Nathan refuses to give up and is focusing on his family and raising his two boys. Please wrap arms around Nathan so he can receive the financial support he needs to provide his family with a life filled with hope and happiness.

“I had to make a choice. I could either sit here and feel sorry for myself and bring everyone down with me, or suck it up, accept it for what it is and focus on the things that I can do,”