A young stroke survivor began his journey to bike ride 9000km around Australia this week, as he set off from Ballarat to start his trip in support of stroke survivors.
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Tommy Quick, 27, who comes from a local family, will ride his recumbent trike to the most distant geographical points in mainland Australia in order to increase awareness of strokes in youth and raise money for the Stroke Foundation.
He suffered a stroke at age 12 and spent five weeks in an induced coma, but despite his hemiplegic condition after his stroke, Tommy is determined to achieve.
"After doing the Kokoda trail in 2014, I had no goals or things that challenged me, but in 2017 I got my hands on a trike which I loved as it gave me freedom," he said.
"Over a coffee with a mate, I told him that I wanted to achieve and I had ambition but I had no goals, nothing strenuous or something that looked hard."
"He suggested I ride the trike around Australia and I thought, 'why not?'"
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Tommy has documented his journey for the past 12 months online and has a website dedicated to his mission, where people can follow his trip, make contact to join him on his ride or make a donation towards the Stroke Foundation.
He has already raised $30,000, with the target for donations set at $1,000,000, which Tommy embraced as "another challenge".
Tommy's ride will start at Steep Point in WA on August 2, the beginning of National Stroke Week, with hopes that he will stop in Ballarat around the beginning of November before heading up north to finish at Cape York in July 2022.
Ambulance Victoria donated a van which will be driven along the trip by his parents, while other businesses such as Telstra and Garmin have donated equipment to help the journey.
Tommy encouraged people to visit his website at www.the4points.org to follow his journey or get in touch if they wanted to ride along with him.
"Thank you everyone for your support," he said.
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