Q. What is this skydive on 28 September all about?
A. Eight friends, led by my 18 year old daughter Holly, will do a skydive for Harry, who lives with a very rare type of congenital muscular dystrophy. Harry cannot crawl, stand or walk and is completely reliant on his powered wheelchair.
Q. Why have they decided to do it now?
A. Muscular Dystrophy UK helped us as a family when Harry was younger with schooling, giving advice and generally being there when we needed them. We decided to put a team together to raise as much money as possible for Harry’s Research Fund to help one day find a cure for his condition, which is Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Merosin Negative.
We have done a number of different fundraising events over the years for MDUK, but due to Harry’s illnesses, we have not done any for a while – until now. We also want to raise awareness to Harry’s condition. Not many people have heard or are aware of it and how it affects children’s lives on a daily basis.
Q. How is Harry doing generally?
A. Harry is 12 years old and is currently doing very well in mainstream school. He has managed to recover well from two major spinal operations. He is such a brave little fighter, always managing to bounce back from illness, despite bugs resulting in his being rushed to A&E and on several occasions landing him in intensive care.
He’s a very clever lad, who enjoys school, his passion is anything to do with IT, the latest technologies – and he loves playing on his Xbox with his friends. We have ambitiously set £4,000 as our fundraising target. The team are very excited and super eager to take part.
We do find fundraising hard work but very rewarding at the end especially when we hit our targets, but we understand there are so many other great charities out there that are doing great work too.
You can support Holly by donating to her JustGiving fundraising page.
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