Heathfield woman to trek across Sahara for hospice

A Heathfield woman will be pushing herself to the limit in her 60th year in memory of her mother Ivy Winifred Elsey and to raise money for St Wilfrid’s Hospice.

Lynne Phair, an independent consultant nurse and expert witness, is taking up the challenge of a trek across the wilderness of the Sahara over four days and four nights. She will cover a terrain of sun dried plains, dried up river beds, wide sandy dune fields and hard rocky outcrops. Lynne will be covering 15 to 20kms a day with scorching temperatures during the day and 0° at night when she will be sleeping in tents and under the stars with no water for washing. There are around 30 people taking part in the trek which starts on 14th November

Lynne explains: “The closest I have come to doing anything like this before is a seven-day trek in the outback of Tasmania when we had to carry 20kgs of equipment. I also completed the overnight Moon Walk March for Breast Cancer. The desert trek will be quite an adventure because of the temperatures.”

Through sponsorship and a wine and cheese event on 5th April Lynne is hoping to raise £2,500 for the hospice in Eastbourne that provided such amazing care and support for her mother and Lynne herself. She has already raised around £2,000. You can visit Lynne’s Just Giving page to donate or simply text  PHAI60 £5 or PHAI60 £10 to 7007

She explained: “I want to do this challenge, in the year I am 60, in memory of my mum and to ensure others can be supported by St Wilfrid’s hospice and the Nurse Line in the future. I have paid for my expenses so all sponsorship will go straight to the hospice.

“Specifically for me it was the support we were given through the Nurse Line which is there for you day and night and coordinates all the other services. We are lucky because not every hospice has a Nurse Line but it is critical to enabling people to stay at home at the end of their lives and coordinating care. It meant I only had to make one phonecall for advice about things like medicines. The NHS and the local community nurses were amazing as were County Medicare.

“St Wilfred’s supports people to live well at the end of their lives and also has inpatient beds. Mum wanted to die at home and it was wonderful that all the agencies involved worked together. My mum knew her time was limited but remained fiercely independentand wanted to die at home. The hospice at home team supported her with advice and guidance over her last few months. She spent a week in the hospice to manage some of her symptoms and she found it peaceful, the care excellent and loved the garden.

“During mum’s last two weeks at home Nurse Line was there advising, supporting and coordinating the community services. I knew I was only one call away from advice and support day or night. It enabled me to help mum to be in control of her final journey – to die in the place she loved, her home.”

Ivy was well known in the Heathfield community for her services to scouting. She served the movement for over 60 years and died aged 82 on 27th July. Read the story we wrote about Ivy here

Everyone is invited to attend the wine and cheese event at Westwoods Estate Agents on 5th April featuring Sussex cheese, wine and fruit juice tasting with James from Cuculo Deli. The event is from 5pm to 7pm.