Alex Press, aged 26, Global Sales Administrator, Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Birmingham

I first learnt about The Foundation for Conductive Education through our community bulletin at work. I met with the manager of the Community office and she briefed me on the charity and their amazing efforts to create awareness for their Foundation. The Arctic Trek sounded fascinating and I was hoping my husband would think the same as I wanted us both to actively help the Foundation. He thought the idea was excellent and we both immediately booked the time off work and began our fundraising mission! We thoroughly enjoyed the fundraising, which included car washing, a raffle, an auction, cake sales and much more. It was tiring but very rewarding.
Our journey began on Saturday 3rd March and finished Saturday 10th. We flew from Heathrow to Stockholm and then on to Kiruna, a town which only exists due to it having the largest Iron Mine in Europe. We met some incredible characters who had some amazing tales to tell on their personal experiences of Parkinson’s amongst other things.

 

Temperatures plummeted to -25 degrees at night and a cosy -15 during the day. We travelled 300km on sleds over flat and hilly terrain, helping the dogs with the heavy loads by running behind the sleds and pushing them up the hill. The air is a lot thinner the further North you go and you had to catch your breath after only 15 seconds of running, no matter how much we had all trained physically before the trek. We chopped wood to burn to heat the water for the dogs and ourselves. The sun rose at 4am and went down at 5pm. We would often have to help our team mates up ahead or behind in case their sleds got stuck, but we soon realised that veering off the track wasn’t such a great idea when you ended up falling deep in to the snow and needing another team mate to pull you out! Evenings were filled with laughter, card game tuition and Connect 4!

The journey we all took on a personal level is remarkable. I can put my hand on my heart and say the last 5 months have changed my life for the better. I did not miss home comforts - it’s amazing how you adapt to your surroundings and equipment. I have learnt to appreciate family and friends more and to realise that life can be ever so short and we can all become selfish at times.

You return with not only a sense of personal achievement, but we each shared the most memorable and special week of our lives, which words cannot explain. The scenery, the company, the dogs, the emotions, have made me feel so alive and grateful and given me a sense of how, although the world is a vast place, each and every one of us can make a positive contribution and a big difference.