Mark Lloyd and his good mate Matt Nicholas cycled through Bethungra, Junee then Wagga on Thursday as part of their 1000km route from Sydney to Melbourne on bike.

Mr Lloyd, who is riding in honour of his father who suffered at the hands of the condition, said AATD is a widely unknown genetic disorder that affects one in nine Australians.

So far the pair have raised more than $11,700 which will go towards the Alpha-1 Organisation Australia Incorporated.

The condition causes lung and liver disease.

Mrs Crabtree, who is preparing to have a double lung transplant due to the condition, said the initiative was "wonderful".

"It's wonderful that the news about the disease is getting out there because most of the time it is mistaken for asthma and it requires a blood test to be diagnosed," she said.

Mrs Crabtree said the condition almost guarantees a sufferer will at some point require a lung or liver transplant just as she has.

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"My brother had it and he was a sufferer because you're either a sufferer of the condition or a carrier," she said.

Mrs Crabtree's brother Stephen tragically passed away in 2018 which motivated Mrs Crabtree to create The Gaylene Crabtree Foundation which also aims to spread awareness around the condition.

It was also Mrs Crabtree's brother's persistence that made her get tested for the condition in the first place.

"My brother had urged me to get tested for the disease after I had five miscarriages," she said.

There is no known treatment for AATD, only trials that take, one of which Mrs Crabtree has been a part of for the last five years but to no avail.

Mrs Crabtree's trial period came to an end in January.

She will now make regular visits to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney until she eventually has a double lung transplant.

The disease prevents oxygen flow and the decline of the lungs and liver until transplants take place.

Mr Lloyd, whose father also had to have a double lung transplant in 2009 before he tragically passed away, said after the COVID-19 pandemic, a virus that affects the respiratory system, there is now an increased urgency for more awareness.

Disease symptoms include shortness of breath, excessive coughing with phlegm/sputum production, wheezing, a decrease in exercise capacity and a persistent low energy state or tiredness and chest pain which increases when breathing in.

GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/1067b7f6

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