Claire and Leon's experience on the Sahara Trek

Claire O'Hanlon and Leon Daly have very close connections to muscular dystrophy. They recently took part in the Sahara Trek in October 2007. Read about their incredible experience.

Our motivation

We had always talked about doing something big for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and thought we would be ambitious by registering for the Sahara Trek. There is a long history of muscular dystrophy in our family. Our grandmother had three sons with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and my mother had one son with the disease. Two of my cousins and I are carriers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy - a fact that is worrying for any children we might have in the future.

Raising money and awareness

We found that very few people in our area were aware of muscular dystrophy and the work of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign so we used our fundraising as an opportunity to create awareness in the local area. We sent out several press releases and put posters up in local shops.

Most of our fundraising target was collected in one day with a street collection in Dungannon and Coalisland where we raised just over £3,900. We also held a quiz which ran for 10 weeks in a local pub, and held a Halloween party. In total, we raised over £6,000.

The trek

The trek was quite a challenge since neither Leon or I would consider ourselves to be particularly fit and found it hard making time to train. Most of my training involved 3-5 mile walks in the evenings after work, when possible, and 7-10 mile walks on the weekends.

Before we headed off on the trek we were both pretty apprehensive and didn’t know what we had let ourselves in for. But I only have positive things to say now. We trekked for approximately 8 hours per day in intense heat but the team spirit was, in the words of a fellow trekker ‘absolutely wonderful’. The Proclaimers’ ‘I would walk 500 miles’ was sung on more than one occasion.

The local guides were fantastic, keeping us on the right track throughout the day and preparing our breakfast, lunch and dinner. They kept us entertained at night with their music and dancing, and telling us about their country and culture. There were times during the day when I was tempted to just collapse and let the elements do their worst, but it was all worth it when we saw our camp in the distance at the end of the day.

We also got to see some of the local animals like camels, goats and foxes and one of the team found a scorpion in their tent!

I have to say, I was very glad when I got back home and got to use a toilet that wasn’t a whole in the ground covered by a tent whose stench left nothing to the imagination. I was also glad to drink water that didn’t taste like chlorine because it was full of iodine tablets.

I do however, find myself missing, believe it or not, camping out under the stars (very hard for me considering I am terrified of spiders), having to tape up my feet every night and prepare my bag for the next day.

The trek provided me with an experience that I will never forget. As for our fellow travellers, we ate, slept, laughed, cried, and lived together for a week. We made some great friends and are planning to meet up in London in February 2008. Speaking to the others on the trek and hearing their experiences of muscular dystrophy has given me a better understanding of other forms of muscular dystrophy and how people with the condition and their families are affected. It has also eased my fears about the possibility of having children with muscular dystrophy as I am now aware of the huge support network out there.

The team

The expedition leaders from Across the Divide were great and kept us right and pushed us on when our motivation levels were falling. Where else would you get a doctor opening a blister clinic at 6am?

The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign staff on the trek, Chris Havers and Annie Jackson, did a terrific job in organising a truly memorable week.

Since taking part in the trek I feel very motivated to help the charity in whatever way I can. I am also seriously considering taking part in the trek being organised for 2008. I will be extremely privileged if I were to meet such lovely and truly inspirational people a second time.