On 09/07/2023 I will be undertaking a skydive, jumping at 15,000ft, to raise money for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Wales. Any donations/sponsorships will be greatly appreciated.

I have paid for the skydive myself, so all donations will go to the charity. I have also paid to have the dive filmed, so once I am back, I will upload the video as proof of completion. 

To be able to achieve this, I have also had to lose a significant amount of weight in order to be able to do the skydive at all. I am now 4 stone lighter, and I am within the weight limit to be able to go. I am, however, aiming for another 2 stone before the dive. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to message me on Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/tlpmate

Backstory: Why Noah’s Ark?

Most people who know me, know that I volunteer at the Royal International Air Tattoo every July, and have done since I was a teen, and helping out “unofficially” before this when I was younger, as my dad also volunteered until the last couple of years. So, in 2016, we were in Fairford, Gloucestershire, for the air show, and my wife, sisters, kids and niece were all staying in a hotel in Swindon.

On 11th July, my wife was at the hotel, getting Jack (our youngest) ready for a nap. He was in his travel cot, and she noticed some strange, twitchy movements in his arms and legs. After getting my sister to come and look to make sure she wasn’t overreacting, they both agreed it looked like a seizure and called 999. The paramedics arrived and confirmed he was seizing, and administered some medication. He was rushed to Swindon hospital by ambulance, where despite the many attempts by doctors, they couldn’t get his seizures under control for over 50 minutes, and this was only achieved by placing him into a medically induced coma. This alone caused great concern as to what affect the prolonged seizures may have had on his brain. Jack was put through test after test, including scans, blood tests and a lumbar puncture. The doctors informed us that he needed to be transferred to a specialist children’s hospital, and the closest was Noah’s Ark, in Wales. Eventually, he became stable enough to transfer by ambulance with a specialist paediatrician in case he took a turn on the journey.
Once at Noah’s Ark, he was rushed up to the children’s ICU, and we were asked to wait in the family room. Someone came to speak to us during this time, as we were obviously a fair way from home, and wouldn’t be leaving our boy. They organised somewhere for us to stay on-site, so we were only minutes away from Jack, but we could get some rest. Still in his coma, Jack was stable, and we managed to get some sleep. Coming in the next morning, we found the nurses on the night shift had obviously noticed that it was actually Jacks 1st birthday, and had hand-made banners and bunting, and hung it all around his cot. It was such a thoughtful, and much appreciated gesture. Later that afternoon, Jack was brought round from his coma, and we were finally allowed to hold him briefly, as he wasn’t connected to as many wires/tubes etc. From that moment he began to make an amazing recovery, even the doctors themselves couldn’t believe how quick he began improving. The following day he was moved from intensive care, to high dependency, and the day after he was well enough to go down to the normal children’s ward, where he decided he’d had enough of his NG feeding tube, and pulled it out. The nurses brought him some porridge and he completely devoured it! Our boy was definitely on the mend! Following numerous tests, the doctors could finally tell us that Jack had meningococcal septicaemia. The fact he was recovering so well and so quickly was practically a miracle. After another 2 days, he was deemed well enough to be transferred home, so he and my wife had a 4/5hour ride home in an ambulance whilst I followed in the car. We then had to take him to our local hospital every day for 2 weeks, to have infusions of medication, but he just kept getting stronger and stronger.

The care, treatment and compassion we received whilst with Noah’s ark was amazing. They supported us, as well as caring for our little boy. The staff went above and beyond their job descriptions, and we will never be able to thank them enough for saving our son. However, in doing this skydive, I hope to raise money to donate to them, to help them keep helping children and families that need them.

Jack is now a happy, healthy, cheeky little monkey. He will be 8 this year, and thankfully the only lasting effects seem to be some speech difficulties, which when compared to what could have been, is nothing. We will be forever grateful to all the staff that gave our son the best care imaginable.

Our mission is to support the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales and the thousands of children and families within it. Working hand in hand with people like you to do this, we fund:- state of the art equipment that saves lives, improves outcomes and makes treatment more bearable- facilities that allow parents and carers to access care as quickly as possible for their children and enable families to enjoy as much time as they can together- support services that make the hospital experience less stressful and more child focused