A woman who was born profoundly deaf has told how she has been helped by hearing dogs.

Caroline Jefferson was given her first hearing dog in the 1990s. They help her by alerting her to important sounds such as smoke alarms and doorbells.

Now Caroline is planning to trek across the Sahara Desert in a bid to help others who require the dogs.

The 53-year-old occupational therapist from Shoreham said: “I’ve experienced first-hand the difference these dogs make to people’s lives.

“I was lucky in that I had my family around me but deafness is incredibly isolating and that can cause people to withdraw.

The Argus: Caroline with SableCaroline with Sable (Image: Caroline Jefferson)

“I remember my hearing dogs trainer saying my dogs needed to be bullet-proof as they came everywhere with me – to conferences for work and into the hospital. They worked with my dogs to make sure they were happy to go on trains, to conferences where there would be crowds of people and be near clattering trolleys etc in the hospital.”

Caroline, who was born deaf after her mother contracted German measles when she was preganant, was first paired with Jack Russell Lizzie.

When Lizzie died Caroline was paired with Sable, her second hearing dog, in 2001.

Now Caroline, who has already climbed Ben Nevis, is planning to trek over 100km across the Sahara next month to raise money for Hearing Dogs For Deaf People.

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She is fundraising for the charity through her JustGiving page and has so far collected more than £1,000.

The walk will take her through Morocco and will be the equivalent of two marathons over two days.

Caroline said: “I’m a little bit bonkers and I enjoy a challenge. I don’t like fundraising for events that are easy – I only feel I can ask people to part with their hard-earned cash if I’m doing something genuinely tough which pushes me outside my comfort zone.”