Gruelling trek shows Shell Cove dad's love for his sick son with muscular dystrophy

Dubbed "A Father's Walk", Michael (Mick) Rigney trekked 216 kilometres up and down a steep hill at Killalea while wearing a 35-kilogram vest, all in the name of his son, Jack, who has Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD).

"I'm just proud he was here to see it and hopefully he can see how much I care and love for him," Rigney said just after the finish line.

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The gruelling task was "numbing" and at times felt like an out-of-body experience, he said, but he was relieved he was able to finish his quest.

The 216 kilometres walked equates to 8849 meters of elevation, the elevation of Mount Everest. The feat took a day longer than expected due to wild rain and wind taking its toll on Rigney on Friday, but he didn't give up and completed his epic journey Monday evening.

Around 10 supporters were seen walking the last few laps with him, Jack the one to be by his side for the final round.

"It was just awesome to have my partner, my kids, my parents and lots of good friends and family members here and the Shell Cove community were amazing," Rigney said.

"It was fantastic to be involved and see so many people caring about it."

His son's condition is progressively worsening caused by an insufficient amount of a certain protein, which means the muscle breaks down and wastes away, unable to repair itself properly.

BMD is one of a number of conditions that fall under the term muscular dystrophy and commonly cause profound disability; for some of these conditions, the life expectancy can be as short as infancy - with no cure.

As of 5.15pm on Monday, Rigney was just a few thousand dollars shy of his $20,000 fundraising goal to benefit Muscular Dystrophy NSW, an organisation that supports people with muscular dystrophy and funds research into these conditions. More details on Mr Rigney's fundraising efforts are available here.

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