Mr Wright, who grew up in Dubbo but left to go to university, has a daughter Amelia (Millie) who suffers from the disease spinal muscular atrophy.

Living with the disease proved difficult for Amelia and her parents.

Millie was born with spinal muscular atrophy type II, which severely limits her movement. She will never walk and barely has enough strength to lift an apple to eat or cup to drink.

But as the disease does not affect her intellectual ability Millie is still incredibly bright and social for her age.

Mr Wright said other children who suffer from the far worse type I have a very high mortality rate.

“Children with type I rarely live past six to seven years of age but with proper care Millie will see early adulthood,” he said.

Mr Wright is aiming to raise $5000 in the Bike for Life event to donate to the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Association.

The ride begins in Sydney on August 1 and will finish eight days later in Brisbane.

Mr Wright will travel an average 120 km each day.

Fellow Dubbo residents, Peter Martin, Grant Barnes, Matthew O’Neill and Toby Morgan will join Mr Wright along the way.

Mr Wright will finish at Easts Leagues Club in Brisbane where Scott Barnes, also from Dubbo, will host a function at the club to greet the riders.

Having not been a bike rider Mr Wright has been training for this long distance event for months.

“I have been training quite hard for the ride riding on separate occasions from Brisbane to the Gold coast, Noosa and Toowoomba,” he said.

Peter’s brother Matthew Wright, who still lives in Dubbo, will be raising money for his brother’s adventure by a raffle and by urging people to donate money to the association.

lucy.rowles@ruralpress.com