There are a couple of things that people who know Nate Rader know for sure. First, he’s one toughest guys you’ve ever met. The second is the size of his heart. If you are lucky enough to call him a friend, you know that he’s with you 100% if you ever need anything, no matter the hour. His famous saying, “Fit to fight, day or night”. He’s always been the one you want in your corner when the going gets tough. Nate has been a fighter his entire life. Whether it was in the Army, where he served the United States as a soldier and an accomplished boxer or whether it was fighting for his life against stage 3 cancer just a few years ago. He kicked cancer’s ass after 88 days of chemo & radiation treatments, but not without a cost.

After Hurricane Irma in 2017, much like a lot of Keys residents, Nate took a direct hit with housing & employment and was forced to move northward to West Palm Beach to start over. Never one to give up, he began to flourish in his new hometown & started to put down roots, only to be set back once more. Even after two femoral bypass surgeries in the last two years, Nate continued to work and earn a living. The effects of his cancer treatment, though, had taken a toll on his body. On February 6, 2023, Nate had to be rushed to a hospital due to bleeding out of his wound from his last bypass surgery. He ended up going into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated multiple times. After a blood transfusion & getting him stabilized at the hospital, they realized his leg had lost circulation & the diagnosis for keeping his leg was grim. After the miracle of surviving the cardiac arrest, Nate was told something that is the stuff of nightmares: his leg would need to be amputated above the knee. Even as tough & resilient as Nate had been through all the other trials & tribulations, this one was almost too much to bare. After trying to process the new reality he would have to endure, Nate finally accepted the gruesome fact that, by the next day, he would no longer have his leg. He had the surgery the next day & awoke to the new reality. He has, luckily, not lost the sense of humor we all know him for. But no amount of humor will pay the bills & get Nate back to some sense or normalcy. His VA benefits are only taking care of essential needs with fitting him with a modest, generic prosthesis. He is unable to work to pay his bills at a time when he needs the stability to adjust to his new way of life. I am hoping by starting this GoFundMe campaign, that those who know Nate (and maybe those who don’t) will come to the aid of a veteran, friend, father, and husband who has always been there for others. Thank you in advance for any and all donations.