When Michael Shearman carried his six-year-old son, Max, the length of the Kokoda Track in 2017, he could barely have imagined how it would change lives.

Max has cerebral palsy and Mr Shearman took on the 96 kilometre trail to raise awareness and funds for a new treatment called a TheraSuit.

Their mission made headlines in the PNG newspapers, and caught the attention of Port Moresby resident Michelle Tanga Uri.

Max and Michael Shearman took on the Kokoda Track to raise funds for a trial of the TheraSuit. ( ABC News: Lauren Day )

Mrs Tanga Uri's three-year-old daughter Noee'lani also has cerebral palsy, but services in PNG are limited so she contacted the Shearman family for help.

"I went through the story and I saw Maxie and his dad Michael Shearman," Mrs Tanga Uri told 7.30.

"When I read the story it was all similar to what my daughter is."

She was astounded when the Shearmans offered to fly her family to Australia to try the TheraSuit in a three-week intensive program.

"I was actually crying," Mrs Tanga Uri said.

"I think it is a miracle, I would say, for a person I have never met before in my life to offer me something that I myself cannot afford," she said.

"I was really happy."

Further research needed for TheraSuit therapy

Max in the TheraSuit with his therapist Zoe Plank. ( ABC News: Gus Goswell )

"The TheraSuit is a body orthotic really," Mr Shearman told 7.30.

"It holds the body in a correct position and they do repetitive therapy over and over again."

"[So] it teaches your body that that is how you do it and that is how it is supposed to work."

But the TheraSuit therapy is expensive — it costs about $30,000 a year and it is still largely untested.

Associate Professor Tim Moss from the Hudson Institute of Medical Research is overseeing the trial the Shearmans have pushed for.

He said further research was crucial.

"Anecdote is not enough; just because something works in you or me doesn't mean it is going to work for everybody," he told 7.30.

"There's really good evidence that intensive physical therapy can improve movement in kids with cerebral palsy."

"What we don't know is whether the TheraSuit is the best way to provide that therapy for the children or not."

Lifelong connection forged through shared experience

The Shearmans and the Tanga Uris share a dinner ( ABC News )

Noee'lani is not part of the full trial, but has just completed a three-week intensive program.

Mrs Tanga Uri said she had seen amazing results in a short time.

"She is able to sit on her own, she can eat, she can hold up her head straight, and she is able to grab things," Mrs Tanga Uri said.

"She is able to give me a hug now and hold my face — it's amazing."

Michelle Tanga Uri and her daughter Noee'lani have come to Australia from PNG to trial the TheraSuit. ( ABC News: Lauren Day )

Mr Shearman said his family had enjoyed living with Mrs Tanga Uri and her family and sharing their experiences of living with disability.

"To have her here and see how … living with a child with a disability isn't the end of the world and it can be some of the most rewarding things," he said.

"We're really lucky. Only one in 500 kids have cerebral palsy, so we are quite lucky in a way you know."

In addition to the results Noee'lani has gained from the TheraSuit, Mrs Tanga Uri said she was grateful for the friendship she had made with the Shearman family.

"Words cannot describe the connections that we have made with each other," she said.

"But I think it is a lifetime connection and we'll be friends for a lifetime. There is no end here. It will continue."