Pushing for Purpose: Sam Longmore's 441km Journey to break the silence on Rural Mental Health

"I have the ability to help people, and I have the drive. If you've got those things, then you may as well have a crack at helping someone," Sam Longmore said on FlowFM, speaking with the team ahead of her setting off on The Big Wheel. IMAGE: Supplied.

Less than a week before she's set to embark on a gruelling 441km wheelchair trek across regional New South Wales, the enormity of the road ahead is truly beginning to set in for Sam Longmore, but so too is the excitement.

"I'm excited but nervous all the same," she told FlowFM's Jessica Dempster Monday morning on The Country Viewpoint.

"I woke up this morning thinking, 'Oh my god, it's only five days away. What is going on?'"

The 32-year-old Yass-based small business owner, disability advocate and champion adaptive water skier, is on a mission to spark conversation about rural mental health, and raise funds for charities who champion the same cause.

The inspiring initiative, which Sam has dubbed "The Big Wheel: Push for Purpose", will kick off Saturday June 27 at the Corowa Distilling Co, and finish eight days later in Yass, with Sam pushing her everyday wheelchair approximately 50km per day through more than 20 regional communities.

"The Big Wheel: Push for Purpose" will see Sam set off from Corowa on Saturday, June 27, pushing her wheelchair 441 kilometres through more than 20 regional communities over eight days. Camping along the route, Sam will finish her challenge in Yass with a community "shindig" planned at the local racecourse to celebrate her arrival. IMAGE: Supplied.

She said the idea for 'The Big Wheel' first started as a desire to take on a personal challenge, but soon grew into a project she hopes can help make a difference.

"November last year, I decided, 'you know what, I'm going to do something big in 2026'," she said.

"At the time, I didn't know what it was going to be, but over time it evolved into this idea: 'The Big Wheel', a push for purpose, raising money for rural mental health and wellbeing in rural, regional and remote communities."

Sam is no stranger to finding purpose, overcoming challenges, and doing things the hard way. At just 20 years old, she found herself navigating a completely new reality after a spinal cord injury left her paralysed down her right-hand side.

"Twelve and a half years ago, when I was 20 years old, I had two car accidents on the same stretch of road in two different states in a matter of 45 minutes," she said.

"That left me with a spinal cord injury and I'm paralysed down my right-hand side. So I've been in a wheelchair for 12 and a half years, my whole 20s."

Sam, now 32, is no stranger to overcoming challenges and facing whatever life throws at her head-on. At the age of just 20 she was involved in two back-to-back vehicle accidents in the space of 45 minutes, leaving her paralysed on her right side. IMAGE: Supplied.

"From that moment, my whole world was tipped on its head, but I was also opened up to a whole new world, a whole new range of experiences, both positive and negative."

Rather than letting her injury define her, Sam said post-accident she was determined to build a life with new challenges and opportunities.

"After my accident, I've overcome a lot of challenges in regards to being in a chair and overall have just tried to live this new, big, incredible life," she said.

That life has included building businesses, working in agriculture and representing Australia in adaptive water skiing.

"I know my wheelchair isn't all of who I am - it's just a part of my story," she said.

Twelve and a half years on from the accidents that left her paralysed, Sam has remained dedicated to her goal of living a "big and incredible life". IMAGE: Supplied.

It's that same mindset that's driven Sam to take on this latest challenge - even with a broken leg - in the hope that she can inspire others facing their own struggles.

"I've been surrounded by people with poor mental health or mental health challenges or wellbeing challenges for the vast majority of my life - friends, family, people I've met along the way," she said.

"The more that I talk to people or the more that I share, the more people reach out and talk to me, which is what it's all about, is starting that conversation, making people feel like they're not alone."

While she's set a target to try and raise $200,000 to split evenly between charities Rural Aid and Riverina Bluebell, she said she hopes the impact of the trek will not only be measured by the funds raised.

"That's what I keep saying to myself. I've got this goal of $200,000 to raise for both of these charities. However, if I don't get to that goal, at the very least what I've done is raised some money to support both these organisations, and hopefully given people space to realise that they are not alone."

Not even a broken leg and the prospect of eight nights sleeping roadside in a swag will stop Sam from taking on this trek. IMAGE: Supplied.

For Sam, the challenge is also about creating a moment that makes people stop, ask questions and start conversations about mental health.

"At the very least, that's what I can do - help start that conversation. Because it's something I've been saying over and over again the last couple of months: people stare at me every single day, in every aspect of my life - they gawk at me and they gawk at my chair. And I've decided if you're going to stare at me, I'm going to give you a bloody reason to. And that reason is wheeling on the side of a main freeway or a highway in the middle of the Riverina - it'll at the very least get people to ask why."

Sam will set off on The Big Wheel: Push for Purpose from the Corowa Distilling Co on Saturday, June 27, sharing updates from her journey via Instagram: @sammyj_longmore. Supporters can follow along, stay up to date with her progress and contribute to the cause as well through her My Cause page.

You can listen to Sam's full chat with Jess on The Country Viewpoint podcast, which can be found at flowfm.com.au.