Royal Navy sailor cycling from Leicester to Portsmouth to raise money for his son's ongoing healthcare

Rudy, four, with dad Rhys Bingham. Naval engineer Rhys is cycling from his childhood home in Leicester to his current home of Portsmouth to raise money for his son, who needs expensive ongoing healthcare.

Rhys Bingham and a group of his childhood friends from Syston Rugby Club in Leicester are taking on a two-day, 170-mile cycle ride to raise money to help Rhys’s son Rudy.

Rudy, now four, was born at 42 weeks and was a smiley baby who met all his milestones. It was only when he started to walk that his parents Fiona, 36, and Rhys, 38, noticed he was struggling, unable to walk without holding on to someone or to walk with flat feet.

Rudy had selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery on the NHS to help improve his movement and decrease his pain six weeks ago, and has already made huge progress.

Fiona, a respiratory physiotherapist said: "It’s brilliant to see how much more Rudy can do now, he can walk upstairs and he swung on his own on a swing for the very first time. It’s amazing how much he’s come on in such a short time, but to keep his progress up, he needs physio four times a week as well as hydrotherapy. Much of this has to be paid for privately."

The family has already raised more than £20,000 including through events held by Rhys’s colleagues on his ship, HMS Protector.

They are being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope which helps families fundraise for children like Rudy with healthcare needs and provides charity status to benefit from gift aid, corporate support whilst also providing donor reassurance, and these funds are already being used to pay for therapies, which is currently costing around £1,000 per month.

The cycle challenge takes place over the weekend and is due to finish at Southsea Castle on Sunday evening.

Rhys said: "The support we have received from our friends and family has been above and beyond. Friends from all walks of our life have come forward with ideas and challenges to help fundraise for Rudy. They proposed the idea to cycle from Leicester down to Portsmouth. We are all from a rugby background with minimal cycling experience so we expect the challenge will be tough but equally exciting to enjoy the journey down. I was really touched when they decided get involved with our fundraising.”

To donate visit treeofhope.org.uk/rooting-for-rudy.