CHAS Sahara Desert Trek 2024

Hello,

My name is Courtney and I have recently decided to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself by trekking across the Sahara Desert in February 2024, in aid of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS).

To give you a little background as to why I have decided to take on this challenge, my little brother Reece, he’s 10, was diagnosed in 2018 with Battens Disease, this is a rare neurodegenerative disease, which is terminal.

As a family, we have watched Reece go from being a healthy, happy little boy, who was always running wild, playing on his trampoline, playing with bubbles and telling everyone about his love of fast cars, motorbikes and fire engines, to now being fully depended on the care my mum, CHAS and the CHAS@home team provide for him.

And without the care and support from CHAS life would be so much harder for not only Reece but us all as a family.

We love our family visits to Rachel House where we are all so well looked after. Reece gets to socialise with the other children, while my mum get a rest from her caring responsibilities, she has no meals to cook, no housework, she just gets to be mum.

We have met some lovely families who we now class as friends and we are all able to support each other as we understand how difficult this journey is.

In between visits to the house Reece has the CHAS@home team who are amazing and again help and support us all, they are a real lifeline to our family and I see first hand how much CHAS means to so many children and their families so this is not just for Reece but for all the other children living with a life limiting disease.

Without the care and support from CHAS and CHAS@home life would be so much different for Reece and for us as a family and not forgetting the other families all supported by CHAS.

My Trek will take place on 21st February 2024 I will travel from Inverness to London then London to Morocco. I will then have one night in Ouarzazate then day two I will, be making my way to M'hamid which is gateway to the desert. Then the challenge will trek into the dunes along the Sahara landscape. I will be climbing to the top of the Chigga Dunes (100m), then continuing on through the desert to Erg Arghoual. The challenge will then end by trekking to Sidi Ab Nbi. This experience will be like nothing I have ever done.... Although, very rewarding!

Thank you for reading and please donate if you can and if not please share far and wide to help raise as much money as we possibly can for the most amazing charity ❤️