Now, the Wodonga man is planning on walking more than 300km to Melbourne to raise money for his friend, Chris Beard, and for all Border CF sufferers.

Mr Mann will begin his walk on July 31 at Birallee Park, which is the place where the two men first met playing cricket.

He is expecting to walk into Etihad Stadium on August 8 in time to watch Mr Beard’s favourite AFL team, the Western Bulldogs play.

“He was pretty crook and pretty flat when we went to Melbourne to visit him, so we decided we had to do something,” Mr Mann said.

“We came up with the idea to raise money, but also to keep him busy by getting him to help organise it.

“Chris has a young family, he never whinges and never complains, he is a ripper bloke.”

The Wendy Beard Walk for Cystic Fibrosis is in honour of Mr Beard’s mum who was one of the founding members of the Border CF group, but died from an unrelated illness last year.

They are hoping to raise a minimum of $100,000, with all of the money raised going to Border CF for physio care and equipment.

Mr Beard said on average, it costs about $1000 per patient for a month of physiotherapy.

“It’s an invisible condition, you look at me and you wouldn’t think there would be anything wrong with me,” Mr Beard said.

“I was in Melbourne for five weeks and I couldn’t get from the bed to the toilet without oxygen, it was like I sprinted as hard as I could until I couldn’t breathe anymore.

“When you’ve got an illness like this you become even closer with your mum, she was by my bed 12 hours a day telling me it was going to be OK, and when she’s not there anymore that’s when it becomes even more tough.”

Border CF is working with Health Focus Physiotherapy on a program to have staff trained in cystic fibrosis treatment.

Committee member and co-ordinator of the new wellness program Lillian Hubbard said it will allow sufferers to spend more time at home with family.

Details on how to donate can be found on the The Wendy Beard Walk for Cystic Fibrosis Facebook page.