Gearing up for Sunshine Ride: Meet star-studded 'furiend' leading the way

Ten-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier Marley J, has been bringing attention to the coming Sunshine Ride starting on Friday, March 15, to his 19,000 Instagram followers.

His owner Raylene Cullen has been overwhelmed by the support she has received.

"It's amazing. It always just blows me away to think these people that are from England and America and Holland and Germany, all around the world, people that I've never met, to think that they want to help," she said.

"I don't know, sometimes it just leaves me speechless as to why they want to help somebody that they don't know, but they just do."

Ms Cullen was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 before it spread to her brain and a lymph node in her chest in 2022. Shortly after, she got another brain tumour in 2023.

After having part of her lung and a brain tumour removed, Ms Cullen finished radiation treatment in November and is now awaiting scans.

The Albury resident and owner of Executive Pets dog walking and pet care service has also lost people and animals close to her because of the disease.

"I lost my mum last year to cancer. I lost my best friend in 2020 to cancer. My previous three dogs before Marley J, all died from cancer," she said.

"So it doesn't discriminate, it can turn up anytime with anybody. So I think we really need to work together to try and raise as much money as we can."

This will be Ms Cullen's second Sunshine Ride and she will be joining Albury Wodonga Team Family Vet, led by Emma Pilkington at Adrenaline Boxing and Conditioning in Albury.

The Sunshine Ride is a 24-hour stationary bike ride that raises money for the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund.

The ride was launched in 2021 and has since raised more than $200,000 for new facilities, services and research.

Ms Cullen has appreciated being able to have almost all of her treatments done locally.

"Another reason why it's so important to raise money so families can stay local. I think it's just a financial burden on families to have to travel," she said.

"You can't go to work, you've got to pay for hotels. It's just stressful because you're not at home. So it's just been fantastic having the cancer centre here. I'm just so grateful."

Ms Cullen has so far raised $4600 for the ride, with a lot of help from Instagram's dog community.

"I put it out there on Instagram that we were doing the ride and we were trying to raise funds. And a lot of his followers got behind us and started to donate money," she said.

"In the first 24 hours, I think we raised $3000. And I'd only started with a $500 target, but the money just kept coming in."

Although she has never met many followers, there is a massive community who love to watch Marley J's personality shine.

"The dog community is really supportive. Everybody loves each other's dogs. It's not just, 'oh, you've got a cute dog'. We actually get involved with each other's dogs," she said.

"I think, following their pages, you really get a connection to these dogs and you really do care for them."

She says that she loves to return the favour if possible.

"We help where we can and we just try and spread happiness where we can. I think people really feed off that and we get back what we give," she said.

More information about the Sunshine Ride can be found here.