Inspirational Duns man crosses the Sahara desert for charity
INSPIRATIONAL Duns man Alan Fairbairn prepares for an epic driving challenge to raise much needed funds for a cancer charity.
And also to prove that a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is not the end of the world.
Ten years ago, Alan was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 36.
Since then, he’s been determined to live as normal a life as possible, even though much of what he’s achieved since could be described as far from normal.
Next month, he’ll take part in the epic Rust-2-Sahara Challenge, going solo back and forth with 19 other adventurous thrill-seeking teams in what will be his biggest challenge yet.
It aims to raise funds for the Margaret Kerr Unit at Borders General Hospital and for the Cancer Unit at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, who have gone out of their way to help his father who has been diagnosed kidney cancer last year.
“The challenge is to buy an old banger for less than £500 and drive it through the Sahara desert. The trip takes about two weeks. I’ve done two already, an Austrian solo challenge on the Alps and a French Triple Crown challenge of solo driving over 3,600 miles.
My previous trips have raised £3,600 for the Cure for Parkinson’s Trust and £2,500 for youth football in Duns, but this time it’s for NHS staff who helped my dad.
“I used to work in a car dealership, but one of the customers told me that he was not comfortable with me driving his car because of Parkinson’s disease. Luckily the dealership had my back, so part of the challenge is to show everyone I can do it. I am medically cleared by the DVLA and have regular check-ups with a consultant and a nurse. I would never do anything to put others in danger.
“In the future, I want to take my daughter Hollie (12) with me on trips and she is very excited about the plan.
“I had an old Jag called ‘Joogle’, but I’ve now bought a Merc and started a contest to give it a name. It’s only fitting that the new car also has an appropriate name. People can enter my Facebook page “Al’s Sahara Adventure”. and win a fantastic prize from The Finer Detail.
“Over the past few days I have been contacted by a number of local businesses, large and small, offering a donation of a prize that is truly generous.”
You can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/als-epic-sahara-adventure