A former professional rugby league footballer who was left paralyzed after a severe spinal cord injury on the field never gave up hope, persevering through the darkest days by being there for the birth of his second son and now navigating life as a quadriplegic.
Former National Rugby League (NRL) player Nathan Stapleton, 32, and his wife, 31-year-old Kate, have been together for 15 years. The pair grew up in two small towns in northern New South Wales, Australia, and met as teens through a mutual friend. Today they have two kids together, toddler Harry and 7-month-old Angus, and the family’s bond is unbreakable.
“Nathan is the best dad in the whole entire world,” Kate told The Epoch Times. “He always has been an incredible dad. All he’s ever wanted to do was have kids, and he’s just got a special bond with the boys.”
Nathan, who has no movement from the shoulders down, said that his wife and sons became his purpose after the injury. “They are the driving force behind my mindset,” he said.
Dead for 16 Minutes
Retiring from the NRL after 61 games and 17 tries, Nathan married Kate, and they moved together into a rural home to tend the land. But during Nathan’s first-ever Rugby Union game for Boorowa Goldies on April 9, 2022, in West Wyalong, playing alongside Kate’s brother—a long-held dream fulfilled—everything changed.“I don’t remember the incident,” Nathan said. “The last thing I remember was Kate’s brother had his hands on my head and on the ground, that’s when I knew something was serious, but I obviously couldn’t do anything about it.”
Nathan was technically dead for 16 minutes but owes his life to local off-duty nurse Louise McCabe who was present at the game and kept Nathan alive using CPR until an ambulance arrived.
The ambulance took Nathan from the rugby pitch to the hospital, from where he was airlifted by helicopter to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, a four-hour drive from the Stapletons’ home at the time. As soon as Kate—who was seven months pregnant at the time—heard from her brother that Nathan had been injured, she drove to Sydney to be by his side.
2 Roads
Nathan had fractured the C3 and C4 vertebrae in his neck, ultimately leaving him quadriplegic. He had screws placed in his neck to secure his spine and was placed on a ventilator, which he will likely remain on for the rest of his life. Nathan was fitted with a tracheotomy and a suprapubic catheter and faced the prospect of life in a wheelchair.“You can never imagine it, and you would never wish it upon anybody, let alone on your own husband. This is Nathan’s biggest fear, so it was terrifying, to be honest, and I was heartbroken for him,” Kate said adding, “But not at one stage did I ever lose hope, nor was I ever not positive about our situation because I truly knew and believed that Nathan would improve.”
Just like his wife, Nathan dug deep and found purpose despite his suffering.
He said: “It was very hard just trying to come to terms with what had happened and ... what my life was gonna be like. I just knew that there were [two] roads to take. The first road was to sit there and take the pity road, bringing everyone else’s spirit and hopes down. Or, be strong for everyone, especially my two boys ... so if it means that I’ve got to stay strong ... well, I’m more than happy to make the sacrifice if it means I get to watch my boys grow up.”
Nathan had to learn how to breathe, talk, and eat all over again, and Kate never left his side. As her due date approached, she barely had time to think about the birth, and when she went into labor in the hospital ward in July, it was Nathan’s team that arranged for her to give birth at the adjoining Royal Hospital for Women.
‘Nothing Else Mattered’
Kate said: “Every wife wants her husband to be there for the birth of their child, and it was one of my biggest fears not having Nathan. ... I need his emotional support more than anything. So I was just so grateful and so happy and so thankful that he was there with me. ... His words of encouragement were just everything I needed to tell me that I had to do this, keep going.”
Nathan fought really hard to be there at the birth of Angus. He pushed through his recovery, speech, and breathing to ensure that he could be there.
“Nothing means more to Nathan than his son, and it shows,” Kate said.
When baby Angus was born, hospital staff placed him on Nathan’s chest. Photographer Alisia Mason of Sydney Birth Stories captured the emotional moment on camera.
Nathan said: “It was basically the only time that I didn’t feel like the injury was taking over. ... Everything went away, and it was just Kate and I at that moment, then when Angus was born it was just us three, a little bubble. At that point in time, nothing else in the world mattered.”
Strength
Nathan has also been grateful that his toddler, Harry, doesn’t seem fazed by the changes in his father’s abilities.“At first, it was my biggest concern ... how my son would see me,” Nathan said. “But he’s at an age where he’s too young to understand. ... He just knew that dad was ‘different,’ but now, at the moment, he just sees it as normal. He comes up on the chair and gives me a hug and a kiss every day, and for me that’s everything.”
Kate, who describes her husband as “incredibly funny, cheeky, and witty,” is grateful that she has not lost Nathan since his accident and marvels at his strength.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of Nathan,” she said. “If I could bottle up Nathan’s mental strength and sell it, I would be an absolute billionaire, because what he is achieving, the adversity that he is conquering daily, and the strength that he keeps on drawing from I don’t know where, is absolutely incredible. He’s so inspirational.”
Nathan describes his wife as “the rock of the family,” saying: “I’m in absolute awe of how she’s looked after our boys and still turned up to the hospital every day with a smile on her face. That means the most to me. She’s a one-of-a-kind woman, and one day I hope to repay her somehow.”
The couple is looking to the future and raising their boys together.
Kate told The Epoch Times: “In the end, Nathan isn’t sick, and that’s something that Nathan and I obviously draw on every single day as well, that we’re so blessed. Nathan isn’t terminally ill, he can only improve from here. ... There’s just hope in front of us.”
For anyone facing an uphill battle, Nathan advises, “Try and find something to fight for every day.”
