It is just over six months since we announced to all our clients that Donna from the team became a successful applicant out of thousands that applied for a charity challenge to trek a gruelling 100km across the Sahara Desert this November!!  You may recall the challenge is all in aid of raising vital funds for the breast cancer charity, CoppaFeel, who help raise awareness in younger people following her diagnosis last year.   CoppaFeel’s work is to empower men and women to check their chests and make sure they get checked by the doctor if anything is out of the ordinary.  In short, early detection of breast cancer really does save lives and this is CoppaFeel’s mantra.

After a busy year of fundraising, it is nearly upon them as Donna, along with her husband Jonjo, fly off to Morocco on 11th November to embark on their CoppaTrek!  Alongside a powerhouse team of trekkers, there will be joined by a few celebrities such as Giovanna Fletcher, the charity’s main patron, Pete Wicks, Kelsey Parker, the wife of The Wanted singer Tom Parker who died from brain cancer this year in March and Candice Brown from the Great British Bake Off. Their team captain is none other than favourite Geordie and Queen of the Jungle, Vicki Pattison! Such exposure has been brilliant for the charity and the challenge they all face.

Donna comments, “I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported our charity challenge to walk 100km across the Sahara desert!!  We have had the most incredible support and whilst writing we have raised over £68,000 which has blown our initial target of £10,000 out of the water.  We are over the moon and it will definitely drive us forward in 35 degree heat over the sand dunes!”

In total the trip is for eight days and the first time anyone from the team going on the trek will meet each other will be at Heathrow Airport where they fly to Morocco. The team will then be driven on an eight hour bus ride from Marrakesh to Mcissi, through the Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara Desert. The transfer will finish is Mcissi, a small village, where the team will stretch their legs with a two hour walk to their first camp site.  They will spend the next five days trekking through the forbidding desert and camping overnight.

With just over a week to go until they depart, if you haven’t done so already and would like to sponsor them walk 100km through the Saharan heat (currently 35 degrees!) details of their fundraising journey can be found on the link below:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/donna-jonjo-sanderson

Thank you very much to everyone who has supported Donna & Jonjo by donating.  The level of support has been genuinely overwhelming for them.  As a team they are hoping to raise £500,000 for CoppaFeel from this trek alone, which will help the charity with their important work raising awareness and ensuring early detection of breast cancer to ultimately save lives.