The harrowing experience and long recovery saw Mark overhaul his career and pursue nursing.

Now Mark is working to make a difference to the lives of sick children.

His passion and dedication to helping people at their most vulnerable hour has seen him awarded the Richard and Claire Guy Scholarship.

Bendigo man Mark Warfe can pinpoint the exact moment when he decided to leave his past life behind and become a nurse. 

For him, it was an intensely personal situation that led to a drastic career change. 

His parents, Graeme and Marie, were touring Europe, ready to see their son Glenn compete in badminton at the London Olympics. 

But at the Lourve art gallery, Graeme collapsed. 

He had had a stroke and required life-saving surgery in Paris. 

Just days later, an aneurysm ruptured and he bled into the brain. 

He went on to spend six weeks on life support in the Parisian hospital’s intensive care unit. 

It was an emotional time for his wife Marie. 

“We had just a little bit of hope, and that was taken away. But now we know we are capable of anything,” she said. 

Mark jumped on a plane to be by his father’s side.

“I expected not the be alive when I flew there,” Mark said. 

He was conscious but non-responsive. When he fell ill with pneumonia, he had a tracheotomy – an incision in his wind-pipe to help him breathe. 

At last, a nurse and doctor accompanied Graeme and his family on the long flight back to Australia, where he spent time in hospital in Melbourne before being transferred to Bendigo.

After a long struggle, he can walk again – something doctors thought impossible.  

Formerly working in telecommunications and electrical companies, Mark realised he wanted to become a nurse.

“While I was sitting with him, for three hours a day, I was watching the nurses. That inspired me to make a career change,” he said. 

“I want to help families when they don't really have their own voice.”

Mark’s touching story saw him as this year’s recipient of the $4000 Richard and Clare Guy Scholarship through the Community Foundation. 

Community Foundation of Central Victoria executive officer Ann Lansberry said the group encouraged local people to “give where they live”. 

“Mark is the very embodiment of this, he has given time and talents to support his community,” she said. 

Mark said the scholarship helped pay for his accommodation while he was undertaking traineeships for his course.

Next year he will begin his nursing career at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.