A WORCESTER dad is relying on pedal power to raise money for a charity that supports people with the rare genetic skull defect he shares with his nine-year-old son.

Barry Bowyer, aged 41, who has a mild form of the craniofacial condition known as Saethre-Chotzen, aims to raise £2,000 for cycling 136 miles from Worcester to Portsmouth.

He is also hoping to raise awareness about the condition to help his son Neil and other children like him.

So far in his short life Neil, who goes to Cherry Orchard Primary School, has had to undergo surgery six times - three operations on his skull and three eye operations.

In most children, the plates of the skull fuse at the age of two or three when the brain stops growing.

But in children with craniofacial conditions this happens too early - before birth.

They are born with, or soon develop, an unusually shaped head and a potential problem is that the head may become too small for the growing brain.

Neil's mum, Jane, 44, said the effects of this can be different in different people.

"He has moderate learning difficulties and he is visually impaired. He also had difficulty talking and didn't talk fluently until he was about six," she said.

"We don't know what further problems the condition may cause for him in the future - you just have to take every day as it comes."

Speaking from his own experience, Magnet joinery salesman Barry, of Arden Road, St Peter's, said that children and adults with craniofacial conditions faced a lot of prejudice because of the way they looked.

"This is why it is so important to raise awareness and educate people," he said.

On Saturday, September 7, Barry and two of his workmates, Martin Doe, 23, and Andy Gough, 32, are getting on their bikes to raise vital funds for the work of Headlines, the craniofacial support group.

They are setting off from at 4am and hope to reach Portsmouth on Saturday night.

Jane, her eldest son David, 12, and Neil are acting as the mobile support team.

If you can help, send your donation to Barry Bowyer, c/o Magnet, Blockhouse Close, Worcester.