It's been a rough few years for Ken Black and his family since his brother Shaun was diagnosed with stage four oesophagus cancer, but now the region has come together to rally behind them and offer Shaun something to lift his spirits - a bucket-list holiday.
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Ballimore's Hair of the Dog Inn will host a fundraiser on Saturday, April 22 with all the funds raised going to Shaun for medical bills and a holiday.
Shaun's brother Ken Black said this fundraiser meant a lot to him and his family.
"It would help out a bit for Shaun, he's never been on a proper holiday, so I hope we can raise a bit of money to take him on a proper holiday and put some money in the account for him," he said.
"We are just trying to help him out in any way we can."
While medical bills haven't been too bad so far, Mr Black said they are yet to get into the "nitty gritty" of it all.
"He had his fourth round of chemotherapy last week and we've been fortunate that we can do chemotherapy in Dubbo, but when we saw doctors in Sydney they said there was a chance we would have to go back down there," he said.
"We don't know what the future holds, and this money would be something we could fall back on."
Shaun, who also lives with cerebral palsy, has thought about where he would like to go on his first ever holiday and it's a unique one.
He would like to see AC/DC's lead vocalist Bon Scott's grave in Fremantle, Western Australia.
"When he first said Fremantle, I was thinking Perth or something and I said 'what's the attraction with Fremantle?' and he said 'Bon Scott is buried there and I would like to see his grave', I said 'mate I think Bon would give you the heads up and let you go somewhere where it's more exciting for you," Mr Black said, laughing.
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"He's a big AC/DC person, so am I, I grew up in that era too, but I think he'd let you off on that one. That's how Shaun thinks about things - he has his own battle ahead and he's thinking of visiting Bon Scott's grave."
The brothers lost their mum to leukaemia 16 years years ago, and since then Mr Black took on the role of care taker to his brother Shaun and his father, with both men moving in with him and his family.
"Our family is all boys and one girl - my wife, so you can imagine living with six boys, but all we've got is family," he said.
"It did come to a stage where I said to Dad something had to give and so we looked for a house in town for the two of them, my dad is 76 so he has his own issues going on at the moment too.
"I said we'll get Shaun on an NDIS plan and try and get dad home care and we finally got them into town on December 20 and then on January 9 I was in Sydney with Shaun finding out he had stage four cancer."
While it has been a rough ride for Mr Black and his family, sticking together and supporting each other through the hard times has been important.
"We've had our ups and downs as a family but we've always been there for each other," he said.
Trying to think of just one positive memory the family has had together was hard for Mr Black who liked to enjoy each moment he had.
"We've always been on the up and then smashed with the down, it's just how it's all played together, we move along with it," he said.
"There's no highlight, because everyday is a highlight, you do what you can to make life what it is."
When Mr Black heard about all the support for the fundraiser he said he felt proud and it renewed his faith in people.
"There are still genuine people out there who have generously donated, and Johnny and Pippy [owners of Hair of the Dog Inn] have gone above and beyond and it's amazing," he said.
"I just want to thank everyone for your ongoing support during these tough times for my family."
Hair of the Dog Inn owner Melissa Cass came up with the idea of putting on a fundraiser because she believes in helping people when they are in need.
"We are all about community at Ballimore and John and I are locals, we've been here 12 years and we want to do anything we can to help anyone in trouble and need a little bit of a hand," she said.
"It's just what we do, we are all a big family so we all want to stick together and make sure everyone is okay."
On Saturday, April 22 the fundraiser, which will be held at the pub, will have jumping castles, face paint, a sausage sizzle, balloons, games, an auction and a raffle.
"We are trying to make it a big fun day for the kids, it's a family affair because we are so close and all the money raised will be going directly to Shaun," she said.
"We will sell raffle tickets on the day for meat trays, vouchers, things like that and there's a big auction we are going to hold around the side, you can get bird cages, signed jerseys, stock feed all that kind of stuff, so that will happen on the day as well."
Donations have come from many Dubbo businesses as well as Ballimore residents, but what really surprised Ms Cass was donations coming in from Queensland.
"Our Facebook post has gone crazy and we are getting donations from Queensland, it's fantastic, that was really a 'wow' moment," she said.
"Businesses have been really generous and I hope it's going to make it a really good day."