With his long-time friend Luke Dore living with motor neurone disease (MND), Jarrad Lowe felt he had to do something.
On a spur of the moment, he decided to run 200 kilometres this month to raise money for Luke and his family.
He had never run so consistently before, but felt that taking on a challenge was a way to gain support for the cause.
His GoFundMe, titled "200kms for Luke", aims to help him and his family to "take the load off or create some memories".
"I just want to give him, his wife and kids time to spend together - something to make their life a bit easier," Mr Lowe said.
"Even if it's so they don't have to worry about buying groceries for a couple of months."
A father of two young girls, Luke Dore was diagnosed with MND in November 2024.
Mr Lowe met Luke through the Newcastle Northstars Ice Hockey Club in 2000.
"He was a little whipper snapper with a cheeky grin," Mr Lowe said.
Luke became an ice hockey player and Mr Lowe was a clubman who was part of the coaching staff and worked at the ice skating stadium.
"He's a good bloke with a great family," Mr Lowe said.
Luke is the son of Northstars general manager Garry Dore.
"We went to a Northstars game about a month or so ago," Mr Lowe said.
"I was checking in with Garry to see how Luke was going. It's only been 18 months since his diagnosis and he's confined to a wheelchair.
"This disease takes no prisoners. It's horrendous."
Garry Dore said his son was "severely impacted by MND".
"His limbs and body movement are extremely restricted," Mr Dore said.
"He's very brave and still living life the best he can. He's trying to be involved with everything he can with the girls. He still goes to their netball games and watches them dance."
Mr Lowe said Luke's illness was "a prime example that bad things happen to good people".
"It's just not fair. No one deserves something like this," he said.
Garry said the family was "very grateful to Jarrad with what he's doing for Luke".
Mr Lowe said he would "love to be able to throw him a six- or seven-figure sum to let him enjoy his life with his family".
"I can't do that, so I thought I'd do what I could so people could chuck in $20, $50 or $100."
Mr Lowe has been following NRL player Jai Arrow's MND diagnosis.
When he heard Arrow on the radio before the last State of Origin match, he noticed his speech was slurred.
The pace of the disease's progression was shocking to him.
While doing the running challenge, Mr Lowe often thinks of Luke.
Sometimes he runs at night when his family is asleep, as he has a busy life.
"I'm in my mid-40s with three kids at school. They all play soccer. I coach their teams and run my own construction business," he said.
"The body is feeling fine. I played soccer for 35 years. I was reasonably fit then, but I'm not that fit now.
"But I've got back into running in the last couple of months. I just put on music or a podcast and away I go.
"I'm running an average of seven to eight kilometres a day. I did 12.5 kilometres on Sunday and felt fine."
