Inspiration came on a cold, rainy night as Grant Edwards watched six dead United States officers carried past him in coffins.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
During this ceremony Mr Edwards, a senior member of the Australian Federal Police, reflected upon the traumas his own colleagues had suffered in the line of duty.
He decided to raise awareness of this mental health battle by taking up the gruelling sport he had given away 16 years earlier.
"In February of 2016 I attended a military ramp ceremony at Dover Airforce Base for the repatriation of six US Law Enforcement Officers that had been killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan," he said.
"I had no intention following my retirement in 2000 to undertake strongman again.
"Yet, that cold, rainy night whilst I stood in silence acknowledging the coffins as they passed me, I thought I needed to do something for police, to let people know we suffer too."
On Sunday, Mr Edwards will attempt a Guiness World Record by pulling a 190-tonne C-17 Globemaster plane at a United States Air Force base in Dover, Delaware.
"My previous experiences in strongman have taught me that the sport has a unique following and to use an event such as this would garner the necessary interest to help me support those already spreading the word that it's OK to be mentally ill, come forward and seek help.
"It also affords me the opportunity to directly assist the proactive work that the AFP is now working on in this space to better support our people who have been impacted by mental trauma."
Mr Edwards, the manager of the AFP's Americas division based in Washington D.C, will need to pull the plane at least five metres to set the record for the heaviest aircraft pulled by a human.
He described it as his toughest challenge yet.
"Even though I've pulled heavier implements - a 201-tonne steam locomotive and the 386-tonne Bounty ship - the physics of each implement are vastly different and the strategy to move them is different for each one."
Mr Edwards, who held the title of Australia's strongest man from 1996 to 2000, recently spoke out about his own battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
He said the response to his personal story had been "overwhelming".
"I wanted to tell my story that what people often see of someone isn't a true reflection of who that person really is.
"And as a former strongman with a mental frailty, what better juxtaposition is there to emphasise the point?"
