Like other people, Nathan Bentley fishes to take his mind off other things in life, like health issues impacting him and his family. For the past month, he has also used it as a way to give back to his community.
The fishing content creator from West Virginia is nearly finished with his five-week hike from his home state to Niagara Falls, planning to arrive in the Cataract City today. His journey is a fundraiser for West Virginia University’s Golisano Children’s Hospital’s Fishing for a Cure, mainly for kids dealing with cancer.
“I’ve had it rough in my hometown, getting into a lot of trouble,” Bentley said. “I want to show kids that even if you mess up in life, you can change. You can be a good person even if you battled adversity.”
A native of Keyser, West Virginia, located in the state’s panhandle region along the Maryland border, Bentley suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was 15, with WVU Medicine saving his life after being on life support 18 times for seizures. He has since made an impressive recovery and started uploading clips of himself fishing to Facebook over the past year.
His family does have a history of cancer, with a cousin getting sick with cancer this year and his grandfather passing from pancreatic cancer. He worked to get several fundraisers going to help other children dealing with the same thing.
One day, while sitting on some rocks near a creek, he remembered seeing a boy traveling through his area on a fundraising walk to Florida. While that boy gave up, the idea of a long hike stuck with him.
Originally wanting just to raise the money on his own, Bentley was able to get the WVU children’s hospital to make this an official fundraise for them. He chose Niagara Falls for his destination because he has been here before on fishing trips, calling the falls one of the most beautiful things he has seen.
Starting from Morgantown on Aug. 26, where West Virginia University and the children’s hospital are, Bentley’s 307-mile hike did not get off to a good start. He got stung by 60 bees while in southern Pennsylvania, had to go to a hospital, and went home for a day to let his legs heal.
“I had people tell me I was not going to make it,” Bentley said, going back on the road on Aug. 28, his grandfather’s birthday. “I didn’t give up.”
His route took him from Morgantown through western Pennsylvania areas like Port Marion, Pittsburgh, Oil City, and Erie before going along Route 5 up toward Buffalo. He has carried a cart full of his camping equipment and other supplies as he would spend nights in campgrounds or near stores that gave him supplies and allowed him to sleep nearby. Along the way, he has live-streamed and shared videos of himself fishing in the local waterways.
Aside from bee stings, Bentley also had to deal with thunderstorms, flooding, and losing his phone while doing a livestream in Pennsylvania, for which a friend had to send money for a new one. His fiancée also sent him money each week to support him.
Bentley also had to rely on the kindness of those he met along the way, mainly those who have seen his fishing videos. A man named Henry from northwestern Pennsylvania has been calling him every day after they met and talked about his wife dying from cancer. He also had lunch with a couple from Harbor Creek, Pennsylvania, and a retired Pennsylvania state trooper even took him on a boat to fish for walleye.
“Talking to people was nice, hearing what they’ve been through,” Bentley said.
While Bentley may not have raised that much money in his first go, having only raised $524, he feels the awareness he has raised will help make future years easier. He looks to have companies provide gear for his hikes and put participants in hotel rooms so they do not go through the same outdoor suffering he did.
He plans to organize his own nonprofit organization so that others can join in his hikes and change it from one nearly 300-mile journey to three separate 100-mile treks.
His arrival in Niagara Falls coincides with his daughter’s sixth birthday, as Bentley wants to show her not to give up as things get hard in life.
And he does plan on doing some fishing in Niagara County.
“I didn’t have a lot of money back home,” Bentley said. “Life is hard and my family is working to provide for me. I looked at it like we need to struggle to appreciate the things we have in life.”
Online donations can be made at https://give.wvu.edu/team/835837