West Sussex mum trekked the Sahara Desert for charity in memory of her children's dad

Nina Fulcher, 47, trekked the largest desert in the world in memory of her children’s father, Brett. Nina was separated from Brett when he died but they were still close friends.

Brett was supported by St Barnabas House Hospice in Worthing – which provides palliative care to adults with life-limiting illnesses, both at the hospice and at home.

Nina explained: “My children are now grown up, they are twins of 24 (Louis & Mia), and when their dad was in St Barnabas, we promised him we would do some crazy fundraising for them.

"The children did a skydive two years ago and last year, myself, my partner Justin and the children abseiled Arundel Castle.”

Nina’s latest challenge was the biggest yet – trekking the infamous Sahara Desert. Filling nearly all of northern Africa, it measures approximately 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west and between 800 and 1,200 miles from north to south and has a total area of some 3,320,000 square miles (8,600,000 square km). The actual area varies as the desert expands and contracts over time (www.britannica.com).

“It was probably the worst and best experience of my life,” Nina said. “You plan and train physically, but you don't plan and train mentally.

“I found it really hard. There were about 14 of us from the Sussex area but there were some other people doing it for other charities. There were 26 of us all together in the group.

"A guy from Littlehampton, who is in his 70s, did it. He was at the front the whole time. It was absolutely amazing.

“I did it for St Barnabas because my children's dad passed away there four years ago. Obviously everyone had their own personal reasons.

“There were a few of us that really struggled and were at the back all the way. I was one of those.

"Some people have done even crazier things than this but I'd never done anything like it before.

“Looking back, it was amazing but at the time it was horrendous.”

Nina said the challenge was her idea of hell,

"I hate camping, I’m a fussy vegetarian and the thought of going to the toilet outside…

"But it was 40 degrees, the sun's in your face and there's literally nothing, nowhere to shelter from shade.

"You're walking and you're looking for the next tree to get a bit of shade under, which can be a couple of hours away to find another tree.

“I think we'd only been walking in the desert for literally ten minutes and I was crying. I was just like, I can't do this. And five days later, you see the finish line.

"I was super proud. I think it was hard because of why I was doing it as well. That all comes back to you. I was struggling with doing it and Ikept thinking to myself, don't be ridiculous, it's just a walk.

“We were away for a week and it was four days of walking. It was 50 miles, which doesn't sound a lot, but obviously it's up and down the sand dunes. If you're walking up the dune, your feet slip back down.”

Nina said she and her partner have raised around £6,000 – with £36,000 raised by the entire group.

She said: “That is pretty amazing for all of us. We've got until the end of December to get all monies in."

Nina also praised the ‘fantastic’ organisers of the charity trip.

Joining Nina on the charity trek was Faith Anderson. The 31-year-old from Surrey (formally Worthing) said: “I took part in the Sahara Trek to push myself out my comfort zone.

"It's a great way to meet new people and challenge yourself physically and mentally. I also wanted to raise the money for Chestnut Tree and St Barnabas having worked for them as a staff nurse for four years and seeing first hand the amazing work they do and its impact on local families.

"No matter how hard we found the trek, it's nothing in comparison to what some people go through.”

To donate visit www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk/donate/ or www.stbarnabas-hospice.org.uk/donate/