Merseyside nurse gets ready for epic Atlantic row and ‘the biggest adventure of my life’

A former soldier who trained as a mental health nurse after leaving the army is getting ready for his next big challenge – taking part in a 12-person epic row across the Atlantic.

Damian McCafferty, 45, from Crosby, will have to row 12 hours a day for 44 days to help him and his crew cover the 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

It’s the toughest task yet for the Merseyside action man who’s previously run marathons, driven across the Sahara Desert, and climbed mountains to raise money for charities close to his heart.

He says: “It’s going to be exhausting and I’ll have to dig deep, but I know I’ll not be able to turn round and say I have had enough.

“It’s three hours on and three hours off, every 24 hours.

“I will just tell myself it’s my job for 44 days, and that I need to get it done and come home safe.”

Damian is taking part in the Roxy Expedition to row the Atlantic to raise money for Claire House Children’s Hospice, to make a difference, he says, to the lives of children and families who need it most.

It means gritting his teeth and overcoming the treacherous conditions he could be faced with on a daily basis when he embarks on the challenge early in December.

“It will be tough from the moment we set off,” he admits. “It will be mentally and physically challenging.

“I’ll be living in a small vessel with 11 other rowers, unable to see land, and I’ll get sores from sitting down for so long, and blisters because of the rowing. It’s not for everyone.”

Damian, who’s a member of the HM Coastguard Crosby, is a former infantry soldier who served in the King’s Regiment after leaving school at 16.

He was in the army for five years before leaving to travel all over the world and then training as a CAMHS nurse.

Now working at Flintshire Hospital in North Wales, he supports children and young people up to 18 who are experiencing emotional, behavioural and other psychological difficulties.

Although the Atlantic challenge is almost four months away Damian, who’s married to wife Avni (who he’ll be away from at Christmas) is already beginning an intense training regime to make sure he is up to the task, and at his fittest physically. 

He is running three times a week, he has a rowing machine that he tries to use daily, and he has started yoga and pilates to help with his stamina and core strength.

Damian says: “I am dyslexic and have ADHD. I struggled at school and the army made me the adult I have become now.

“People ask why I do these challenges, why I put myself through it. Is it because I’m an ex-soldier and I crave the next big adventure, or did the adventurer in me make me join the military? I don’t know.

“What I do know is that once I rejoined civvy street, doing those challenges and putting myself into extreme environments or doing endurance events that might intimidate some, became the only way I could feel alive again.

“The need to achieve any perceived challenge was a battle I relished, in spite of the mental or physical discomfort. I have never had a death wish, I don’t do these for an adrenaline rush. I do these things to help me feel like me again.”

And he adds: “This will hopefully be the biggest adventure of my life so far and result in a great fundraising event for the children and families who rely on Claire House.

“My discomfort is minor considering what they have to go through.”

Damian needs to raise £40,000 to help fund the challenge and support Claire House. He is looking for a sponsor, and anyone interested in being that can contact him via email: events@clairehouse.org.uk

You can donate to the fundraising page set up by Damian McCafferty here.

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