Trekking the Sahara Desert for a second helicopter

A woman from Newquay has taken on a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list challenge to help raise money towards the Heli2 Appeal.

Theresa Ferguson signed up for the Sahara Desert Trek alongside her daughter in 2024. After hearing about how Cornwall Air Ambulance is raising £2.85million for a second lifesaving helicopter, Theresa decided she wanted to help raise vital funds for her local charity along the way.

Theresa said: “A lot of the time when I’m out walking the dog, I see the Cornwall Air Ambulance flying over, I see it coming over Nansledan on a regular basis, two or three times a day. It’s out all the time and it runs on charity donations, and one day I might need it, and I know there are lots of people who do need it, so I decided that would be my charity.”

Starting in Morocco, with traditional Berbers as guides, the group covered around 60 kilometres of ever-changing landscape across the four-day trek in November.

The route, which took Theresa and the group across one of the world’s largest deserts, saw them climb to the top of the enormous 100-metre-high Chigaga Dunes to watch the sunrise over the desert with a backdrop of the Anti-Atlas Mountains. With the tough terrain a big challenge, they also had to deal with extreme heat as temperatures reached 35 degrees during the day, with nowhere to take shelter and escape the sun, and dropped to as low as 5 degrees at night.

“It’s a good way of getting to see different parts of the world”, said Theresa. “It’s doing something that’s going to physically challenge you as well as mentally challenge you, step outside your comfort zone and do something for yourself.

“The company of the people who went there was great, everyone was supporting a charity but also challenging themselves. It was motivation for me to do something for someone else, but also the challenge of walking the desert and understanding what it’s like for the people who live there. I wanted to do something different, and I grabbed the opportunity.”

During the trek Theresa raised £2,782 for Cornwall Air Ambulance. She is now encouraging others to take on a challenge to help raise vital funds for the lifesaving charity.

She added: “It was well worth the experience; the people were amazing, and the food was fantastic. It’s all about meeting other people and experiencing other cultures.

“If you’re going to do a challenge, challenge yourself but raise money for charity at the same time. Cornwall Air Ambulance is perfect, they want to buy a second helicopter, it’s out there all the time and is used all the time. But it needs money to keep it up in the air and to get another helicopter, to help ensure the people of Cornwall have got a service that can help when there’s a major trauma or an incident where someone’s life is at risk.”

Inspired? Take on a challenge for Cornwall Air Ambulance in 2025: https://cornwallairambulancetrust.org/challenges/