Prince Harry has backed a former Army colleague in his bid to raise £1 million for charity.
Dean Stott is aiming to generate the huge sum for mental health awareness campaign group Heads Together – which the 33-year-old royal is a huge part of – by trying to break the world record for cycling the length of North and South America in a near 14,000-mile journey.
Despite undertaking harrowing missions during his time in the Army, Dean insists his upcoming challenge will be the "biggest" he has ever taken on as he bids to tackle the Pan-American Highway in less than the current record of 117 days.
He added: "Physically it’s going to be hard. Psychologically, it’s probably going to be harder.
"With close friends in the military suffering from PTSD, I was keen to focus on mental health.
"I’m aware that mental health is an area that affects all walks of life and not just military personnel and so I wanted to raise that awareness and lift the stigma that accompanies it."
The former Special Boat Service soldier’s time in the Army was cut short after a parachute accident during pre-deployment training for Afghanistan.
Speaking in a video message on Dean’s website, Harry – who trained with the soldier in Afghanistan – said: "Every one of us will face hard times at some point in our lives. We should all feel able to talk openly about it and get the support we need to get through it – we are just storing up problems for later life if we don’t.
"No one should be put off getting the support they need because they are worried what other people think."
Dean’s route will see him travel through the likes of Edmonton in Canada, Denver in the US, Lima in Peru and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
His fundraising page has so far raised more than £4,800 for Heads Together.
Prince Harry backs Heads Together record aim
