An Australian father is about to embark on a grueling 4300 kilometre cycle on Australia's roughest roads from Perth to Byron Bay, in honour of his son who died exactly one year ago in an e-scooter crash.
Ross Abraham leaves for the Longest Ride on Monday, hoping to cross the country in 31 days.
It will be a white-knuckle ride, and as he grips the handlebars of his bike, he'll be staring down at two tattoos on his knuckles - mirror images of the same tattoos his son Jaaden Abraham had.
For more information about Ross' Longest Ride, click here
The popular 31-year-old tradie and champion boxer suffered a critical head injury when he hit a curb while riding his e-scooter in Byron Bay last year.
He was airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital and spent four days in the intensive care unit before his life support was switched off.
The country has seen a disturbing rise in similar accidents.
Figures from the Jamieson Trauma Institute reveal between 2021 and 2023 there was an 84 per cent increase in hospital admissions from e-scooter crashes in Queensland.
One of the hospitals supplying data to researchers is the Royal Brisbane Women's and Children's Hospital.
Trauma specialist Dr Gary Mitchell says he's seeing up to two admissions a day linked to e-scooter crashes.
"We're definitely starting to see more serious injuries due to the prevalence of private scooters and the increase speed they have," Mitchell said.
Ross said for him, Jaaden's accident was the worst moment of his life.
"About 1.30am in the morning we woke to the doorbell ringing and the knock on the door," Ross said.
"Opened the door - two police officers informed me what no parent wants to hear - you're son's been in an accident and is in ICU."
One small comfort during Jaaden's last four days alive was a large laundry basket of goods given to the family, full of basic supplies like pain relief, water and snacks.
"One of my closest friends Jo brought me a blanket and it was the weirdest thing but I never let it go," mother Kathy said.
"You don't want to leave the room for anything ... So that basket just felt like, like a miracle in such a horrible, horrible time," sister Tara said.
The basket inspired the Abraham family to put together similar care packages for other families with patients in ICU.
They've designed bags for adults and for children, and are currently supplying six hospitals across Queensland and NSW, with another four hospitals about to join the program.
ICU social worker Lauren Thomas supported the Abrahams in Jaaden's final days and now distributes the bags at Gold Coast University Hospital.
"We get taught how to give the support - it's always verbal, we're never able to do much more than verbal - that's what support looks like - but with this it's tangible," Thomas said.
Ross is now hoping to raise enough money to supply bags to every hospital with an ICU unit across Australia.
"There was actually one day, we were delivering to one of the hospitals and a recipient one of the family members was just coming out and she had a bag over her shoulder, and she said 'are you the people who bring these?' and we said 'yes'," Ross explained.
"She burst out crying, we burst out crying and she just said 'thank you'.
"And it just - yeah - it brings purpose to our pain."
Their bags carry the logo of a sun and a moon - just like Jaaden's tattoos - with the words 'beautiful crazy' in honour of the Luke Combs song that the 31-year-old loved.
For more information about the Abraham family's mission, click here.
