S5E5 Chris Sahara Trek

Intro - Welcome to Stoma and Continence Conversations from Coloplast Professional. I'm Hannah, Ostomy Care Associate Education Manager at Coloplast. Working in specialist care, I know that stoma, bowel and bladder issues impact the lives of those you care for. This podcast is here to support your educational needs and help you in supporting your patients. You'll hear from fellow healthcare professionals and experts by experience, discuss the latest hot topics in the world of stoma, continence care and specialist practice. Hannah: Today, we are following on from one of our recent podcasts where I talked to two of our wonderful Coloplast ambassadors, Rachel and Sarah, about their experiences of traveling with a stoma. Now you may also remember in our last series, we spoke to another one of Coloplast ambassadors, Chris, who spoke to myself and Paul and told us about his experiences and also some of his firsts with his stoma. For those of you that haven't heard Chris's podcast or the podcast with Rachel and Sarah, the link for both of these is in the podcast description. During our chat with Chris, he told us that he had been on a trek to the Sahara, which I was just absolutely blown away by. So here in a bit more detail is our chat about the trek… Chris: So the story behind that was obviously being a firefighter, the Firefighters Charity, they have rehabilitation centres around the UK. And you know, anybody that works for the fire and rescue services in the UK, their families, you know, they all get a chance to, if they're unwell or if they're struggling, you know, the support services are there. So, I got a chance to go over to Harcombe House in Devon in May 2017. And I spent a wonderful week there, was full of positive people that were, you know, showing you that you could reintroduce exercise and give me an exercise program that would get me fit again and rebuild the muscles. So it was time for me to give back. You know, so many people had supported us during, so many people in the firefighting world had supported me and my family, the guys in the watch, as I said earlier, you know, we really were like a brotherhood. Most of us had worked together for 24, 25 years. And, you know, we had gotten each other, our families had grown up together and those guys were at my door daily and they were phoning Martina daily, just to see how I was. So it was time to give back. So the Firefighters Charity was the thing. And it was just after New Year on January 2017. And I was flicking through Facebook as you do, and of course the popup comes up three-day trek across the Sahara Desert in aid of the Firefighters Charity. And I thought, okay, well let's have a wee click at that, so I had a wee click… And the dates actually coincided, it was the Halloween 2019. So we left on Halloween 2019 and came back on the 5th of November 2019. And the 5th of November 2019 was the day I turned 50. So I thought, okay, why not mark the 50th birthday by doing something like this and also raise money for the Firefighters Charity? So talked to Martina, said, look, what's the crack? What do you think? And she says, ah, go for it! So, in a fit of, I don't know, madness I think! My children laugh at me because, when I do things, I go a hundred percent. You know that's a tunnel vision, a hundred percent. I'm doing this and this is so madness, I was like dadada, I filled out the application form, paid the deposit and went send! And then you go… oh…. what did I do!? You know, what did I just do!? Am I ready for all this heat, all this sand, am I ready for all this walking? So I had 10 months to build up to it, and they send you out a training schedule and everything else. So I was, ended up, by the time the trek came around, I was running 10k every second day. And I was walking 10k, walking 10k one day, and then running the next day. And obviously building rest days into that too. Doing all the prep, raising all the money you know, we were having, people were obviously sponsoring me. We actually organised a car wash in the fire station one Saturday morning, and obviously I have the, you know, the fire helmet that's normally on your head. And I promised my children because they came up Aine and Cormack. They came up to help out with the car wash. And I says, right… what do you think, at the end of the day if we fill this fire helmet with money, I'll let you turn the hose on me at the end of the day? So the car wash was started at 10 o'clock in the morning and finished about three o'clock in the afternoon. Line of cars out as always, you know, the people of Derry are really generous and we raised £1,500. And if you've ever held a fire helmet, you know, fire helmets are heavy on their own, but a fire helmet that is actually full of money is a weight! And we did actually fill it, and I do have the pictorial evidence somewhere of it. So they, the kids, they turned the hoses on me! So by the time the trek came around, I had just broken through the £4,000 mark. And then obviously we went off on the trek. And, you know, people beforehand were saying, you're mad, you know, how's your stoma gonna react to all the heat and the sand and everything else? And it was literally, we flew to Morocco, spent six hours then travelling from the airport to a place over the Atlas Mountains. The Atlas Mountains were spectacular. Now, what can I say, you know, the roads winding up through these mountains and you're luckily able to, you know, maybe sitting at the window of the bus here and you just looking over and you're looking down at a 200-foot drop at least! Hannah: Oh gosh - oooh! Chris: The edge of the road and you can see that the tires of the bus on the edge of the road and you're going, ah, okay, just look forward! But you know, spectacular views! And then the day the trek started, it was another four-hour drive. And they literally pulled up at a dry riverbed, threw all the baggage out of the bus, loaded the rucksacks, the main rucksacks onto a couple of camels, and you had then your day pack that's had your water supply and your snacks and stuff for during the day. And then literally just pointed and said – walk! Obviously we had guides with us, and they just went walk… And there were 26 of us on the trek. I was the only one from the Firefighters Charity. I was also the only one with an ostomy. So you walk along and you know, as I say, you start on a dry riverbed, and the first thing it hits you is the heat and it's like a dry heat. And you know, so you have your hat and they stopped somewhere to let us buy the, you know, the head scarfs that the tribes would wear. So we had those and they were brilliant. They were brilliant compared to the hat, you know, cuz you could really cover up. And then when the wind was blowing, you could pull it across your face and, you know, protect your face a bit. So we just got set off and walked. And as I said, the first thing was, the terrain was amazing. And it went from, over the three days of the trek, it went from dry riverbed, to like a rocky surface, would nearly be like the surface of the moon would remind you of it, you know, it was like rocks, and then you came to the sand and the sand dunes. And a lot of people think when you say Sahara Desert, that they think it's completely sand, but it's actually only 20% sand. So you're walking on the dry riverbed, and the only way I can describe it, Hannah and Paul, is if you got a really thick Easter egg and just smashed it with your fist, and you're left with all those broken bits, that's exactly what it looked like, you know! And it was just amazing! And you'd be walking along and all of a sudden you'd be surrounded by greenness, where you’d come across this oasis. And they weren't mirages because, you know, we were well-hydrated. But, you know, just this green, in the middle of a desert! But the, you know, the one memory I took from it is, the night sky was absolutely amazing! You know, you had no light pollution. They did give us tents, but they said, look, at least one of the nights, sleep outdoors. I slept outdoors for the three nights. But you're lying up and you're looking at the Milky Way, and there's nothing. You've got the light of the moon and then maybe the moon sets behind the ridge of a mountain and you're just left looking at stars, watching satellites and airplanes and shooting stars come across. And it was just amazing. I took my good camera, I had debated whether to do that or not, but I was glad I took me SLR and got some timed photographs. And the images just came out, it was the first time I'd ever tried it, you know, I'm not a professional photographer by any means. But I thought I'll try a couple of settings and see and the images that came out were absolutely fantastic! But ostomy wise, there was absolutely no hassle. In the run-up, you know, people says, oh, you're going to the beach, and you know, sand gets everywhere, you know… And I says, ay, I know, but sure it's a challenge, it’s a challenge. And if you don't challenge yourself, you know, then you might as well just sit in a corner and drink tea all night, you know. So yeah. I'm one of these people I have to challenge myself. So, and speaking to the people that were on the trek with me, they says, you're lucky that I didn't have to use the toilet facilities, because the toilet literally was Hannah. It was literally, a hole in the ground, covered by a tent, and once you were finished, you just had to push some sand over the top of it. Whereas I could, I just went, you know, whenever I did a bag change, I just went, I found myself a nice couple of wee rocks where I could sit down, lay all stuff out in front of me, and just away you go, with the desert sun coming down on top of me and, you know, I had no issues, absolutely no issues with the bags at all while I was in the desert. Hannah: It sounds like you had less toilet issues than the rest of the party!? Chris: Oh, absolutely! You know, they were saying, God no, have to go over there again! And it's just, you know, that's it. It was absolutely amazing from start to finish, you know, absolutely. And if anybody's thinking of doing any challenges, go for it, go for it! You know, obviously listen to medical advice. You know, don't be listening to my advice, but listen to medical advice. If the doctor says, ay, go, then if you want to try something, try it! Hannah: Hey, what a great little note to finish on almost there I'd say. If you wanna do it, do it almost! Chris: Yeah! Hannah: I think that's a really nice way to kind of close it. Really positive note to finish on. Chris: We actually have a big, charity thing we've got into this last couple of years and it's called the Legendary Relay for Life, and it's for Cancer Research too. And it's basically there's, at the moment there's 35 teams and we build a big camp on a football pitch. And we spent 24 hours walking around the running track there, you know, remembering people for that we've lost and celebrating people that have survived cancer. I'm the captain of a team and we call ourselves ‘Legs Miserable’. So I kept the team and it's all family and friends, and we had a brilliant experience last year. and it's 24 hours walking around the track, talking rubbish with people, you know, meeting people that, you know, you might not have seen for years. There were 30 teams last year, there's 35 already this year and it's an absolute fantastic event. There's music on all during the day, there's events at night, and there's quite a poignant ceremony at night where they, what they call the candle of hope. Where people have wee candle bags and they, you know, they light a candle in memory of somebody or they give somebody hope and they write weee messages of hope on them. Hannah: Now I think everyone will agree that that was just amazing and absolutely inspiring to listen to and really does just back up what we've always said, that having a stoma shouldn't stop us doing anything at all. Now as well as the link to Chris's previous podcast and the podcast with Rachel and Sarah. There is also a link to the Firefighters Charity, the charity relay that Chris mentioned, and also Chris's social media will be in there as well. So all that remains for me to now say is thank you for listening, and look forward to you joining us next time. Goodbye. Outro - Stoma and Continence Conversations is brought to you by Coloplast Professional. 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