Feeling the healthiest she has been for a long-time after 14 years living with multiple sclerosis, Ms Joy is now training to complete the trek and raise $5000 for MS Limited along the way.

Ms Joy has set the physical challenge as part of her continuing recovery from an intensive treatment she received last year as part of a research trial.

"I have been focusing on being physically able for the trek and trying to give back to an organisation that has been hugely supportive of me along the way," she said.

"It will be challenging. Training is going good, but I am never entirely sure how my body will be on any given day."

Ms Joy was diagnosed with MS soon after her 21^st birthday. She has lived with relapsing-remitting MS, with relapses every 12 to 18 months when her immune system attacks her central nervous system.

"I have had periods where I couldn't walk or use my hands or see properly or talk properly," she said.

"I have been lucky enough to come back from all of them but each time it takes a toll."

Ms Joy said she was running out of treatment options when she was accepted into a research trial last year for a bone marrow transplant.

"That was several weeks in hospital having chemotherapy. I came out the other side of that and had to isolate because I had no immune system at that point," she said.

"The aim is to wipe out my immune system and have it regrow with no memory of MS."

Ms Joy said she had focused on exercise as part her recovery and saw the Cradle Mountain fundraising trek as an opportunity to continue while giving back to the organisation that has helped her throughout her life.

"MS Limited has been such a fantastic organisation since I was diagnosed in terms of access to support and services and anything I needed they have been a point of reference," she said.

"I really wanted to do that and give back given that hopefully this is a reset for me and it gave me something to hope for."

Ms Joy said support from MS Limited nurses on call was invaluable during moments when she was sick but did not know what to do.

She said the support for carers was important too, particularly during times she would wake up and suddenly not be able to walk due to a relapse.

"They were a real person to talk to, someone who understood. They have peer to peer programs as it can be quite isolating and overwhelming," she said.

RELATED COVERAGE: Hollie Fowler's multiple sclerosis diagnosis changed her life in more ways than one

Ms Joy said she was feeling healthy and positive about the future, as it had been two years since her last relapse.

She does have lasting damage from previous relapses, including fatigue, nerve pain and poor eyesight, but the aim is to avoid future relapses and further nerve damage.

"The fact that relapses might not happen anymore will be life changing," she said.

"I relapsed every 12 to 18 months since I was 21 which meant hospital, really heavy duty drugs, going onto another treatment and I would end up back where I started and begin again.

"At the moment I am healthier than I have felt in a very long time. It looks really hopeful.

"Relapse has been such a feature of my adult life. I have had to deal with it but I have always tried to stay hopeful at what came next.

"Part of that has been getting out into the natural environment, exploring and discovering new places as much as possible. I feel more able to do that than I ever have which is incredible."

The trek will cover a 40km section of the Overland Track in four days, in company of a group who are all fundraising for MS.

Ms Joy trains most frequently in Woowookarung Regional Park, which is close to home, but has also hiked in Lerderderg State Park and Brisbane Ranges, in the Dandenong Ranges and in Gippsland.

She is hoping to be able to do a weekend hiking trip in the Grampians with her dad in two weeks and complete some long walks multiple days in a row.

She has 15 weeks left to prepare her body and reach her fundraising goal.

Anyone can donate to Ms Joy's fundraising page online, support a Bunnings sausage sizzle on August 28 or fundraising trivia at Freight Bar every night in September.

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.