Hello everyone!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And am alive to tell the tale!!!! :)

Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me so far - I am so so pleased with the amount raised! Keep it coming!

Thank you also to all of you who came to watch and support me - was so nice to see you all, and it took away all my fear... nearly!

So if you haven't already heard, to celebrate my birthday this year I have decided to throw myself out of a plane!!!

I'm going to take part in the Tandem Skydive at Dunkeswell Airfield, Devon on 20th September (aka my birthday!), at 13:00! The jump is at 15,000 feet - apparently the highest in Europe without breathing equipment!

The reason I am doing this is to raise money for the charity, ELF.

Exeter Leukaemia Fund supports the amazing work of the Haematology Centre based at the RD&E Hospital, Exeter to help patients in Devon and beyond.

This charity is extremely important to me for personal reasons.

As many of you know, in November 2003, my mum, Iris, was diagnosed with Myeloma. For those of you who are not familiar with the illness, myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, where the DNA is damaged causing the plasma cell to become malignant or cancerous. Unlike many cancers, myeloma does not exist as a lump or tumour. Instead, the myeloma cells normally divide and expand within the bone marrow. Unfortunately there is not yet a cure for myeloma although a lot of research is being done to find more effective treatments for the disease.

One of the most shocking and hard things for us to take in when we discovered mum's diagnosis, is that 80% of myeloma patients are over the age of 65. My mum died in March 2006 at the age of 54... although not without a fight.

So your support in raising money for ELF would mean a lot to my family and I. Please help us raise as much money as possible for the charity... I am jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet after all!!!

You can consider your sponsorship money an alternative to all the lovely birthday presents each of you would, of course, have given me!!

No pressure! :)

No, but seriously, your money will help provide funds for enhanced patient care, equipment, research, and it will help support patients and their families who are trying to cope with illnesses similar to my mum's.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page - I will really appreciate any donation, as little or as large as you can manage.

I will try and organise a day where I do something silly like dress up as an elf and prance about work for the day (not sure how that will go down at my new job starting next Tuesday!), but I obviously don't have much time so your help is most definitely needed here!

I hope to see as many of you there as possible on 20th September - and I promise I won't make you go higher than 6 feet off the ground!

Love Rachel