A skydive was NEVER on my bucket list & wasn’t something I envisaged myself doing ….until now!

7 months ago I had major surgery which changed & saved my life, I had to have a Stoma.

I had battled with Ulcerative Colitis for 12 years, tried many medications over the years that my body gave up responding to & then in November 2023 I was rushed to hospital to be told I had to have surgery. Complications followed & so did the dark times but I told myself that if & when I made it through these tough times & got out of hospital I would do things that would take me well out of my comfort zone as life is so very short & needs to be lived to the fullest.

Fast forward six months later, as I am the marketing director of ServiceMaster New Forest, Bournemouth & Poole I like to attend networking meetings. I attended a business networking coffee morning in Parkstone & met a lovely lady called Fiona who discussed about the amazing Lewis-Manning hospice care that she works for & all the amazing services which are run by the incredible nurses.

Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is a charity dedicated to helping people with life limiting illnesses & their families in Poole, Purbeck and East Dorset.

They offer a range of important free services:

•Day hospice

•Hospice at home

•Lymphedema clinic

•Breathlessness service

•Bereavement & family support

•Creative arts & well-being

•Complementary therapy

There aim is to help as many people as possible, who are dealing with a life limiting illness to live their precious lives well, right up until their last moments.

This is done through improving symptoms & reaching individual goals to support them in coping & managing their diagnosis. Support from the local community is vital to the running of the hospice care.

I was really touched listening to Fiona explain what the amazing nurses at Lewis Manning do, so signing up to jump out of a plane is NOTHING in comparison.

ServiceMaster New Forest, Bournemouth & Poole are honoured to support a local charity - Lewis-Manning Hospice care. We are based In New Milton but cover New Forest, Bournemouth, Poole & their surrounding areas & we will do our best to raise as much as we can & hopefully meet our target.

Myself & my fellow 3 directors took the business on over 5 years ago & this is the 2nd time ServiceMaster have raised money for a charity (first one was the amazing Macmillan charity.)

My daughter, Chloe, has been a part of the Servicemaster team for nearly 10 years, working part time throughout summers since she was young. Chloe has always wanted to do a skydive, and after witnessing the miraculous work nurses do, she wants to give back by joining in our fundraising efforts.

“I have always wanted to do a skydive, and after experiencing first hand the relentless and dedicated work that nurses do, day in day out, I am honoured to be doing a skydive to raise money to help improve the services they can provide. Thank you to everybody who’s supported us so far.”

Myself & Chloe will be jumping 10,000ft out of a plane on Saturday 21st September to raise money for their Creative arts & wellbeing services

If you have a spare £5 or £10 or even more you would like to donate please click on my link & know that you are supporting a fantastic charity.

Jess & Chloe

ServiceMaster New Forest, Bournemouth & Poole