Social media sensation Nathan Stafford is gearing up for his biggest mission yet, pushing a lawnmower 45 kilometres across Sydney to raise funds for HeartKids. The viral gardening star, known for transforming neglected yards for people doing it tough, is aiming to raise $450,000 for the charity on Friday, June 5, in a mission inspired by his own son’s life-saving open-heart surgery.
Speaking with The Morning Show on Tuesday, Stafford said his 13-year-old son Benji underwent open-heart surgery on the day he was born. “He had a thing called pulmonary valve stenosis. We’ve all got four valves in our heart. He had one removed, and it was a very tough time,” Stafford explained.
Stafford’s family spent about three months at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where they first encountered HeartKids, a charity that would become their lifeline through one of the hardest periods imaginable. “I’d never heard of them. I hadn’t heard much about kids with heart conditions, and they were the first to jump in and just help me to go through everything that was going on, because I just did not understand any of it,” he said.
Now, 13 years since the ordeal, Stafford is planning to use his huge online following to draw attention to the charity’s work. He explained how he built his global following by cleaning up the yards of complete strangers for free. “I knock on their doors, and some houses I turn up to, you can see literally inside that there’s stuff going on. So, you know, we’re just here to help. It doesn’t matter if it’s inside, outside — wherever, whatever we can do to help,” he said.
Nathan Stafford will be taking on a 45-kilometre mower walk to raise $450,000 for HeartKids. The lawn-loving star admitted he never expected his videos to take off globally. “I definitely did not expect people around the world to be watching some random guy mowing lawns,” he said.
When asked about the appeal of his videos, Stafford believes viewers love seeing overgrown jungles cleaned up quickly, combined with the satisfaction of helping those who can’t do it themselves. “We get some great people that come on to my social media platforms and they are struggling. And if we’re able to turn their life around a bit in some way, then I think that’s a good thing,” he said.
The lawnmower used in the 45-kilometre challenge will be donated to someone in the community about two weeks after the big walk. “There’s so many families out here that are in this awful situation. We just want to make it a little bit easier for them,” Stafford said.
