Page 342 - She's One Crazy Lady!

too close! However, as I was floating down I saw that Dr Matthew had landed but hadn’t got up – it turned out his ears had popped and he needed time to acclimatise – phew!!! The whole jump took just minutes and we all agreed we wanted to go straight back up and do it all again. It was an unbelievable, personal achievement for everyone – everyone was so proud and elated – giddy with relief it was over and quickly devouring the waiting glasses of celebratory champagne handed out by our ‘ground crew’ – Heather, Pauline and Marilyn! This one event raised over £7,000 and as soon as we were back in the office the phone was ringing with people wanting to sign up for the next one! We went on to do five more – with people from all walks of life taking part – including Jeremy (Editor: Evening Telegraph), Karen (Therapist), Bryan and Mikey from Norfolk who later sold us the Charity’s Holiday Home and Linda who, like one of our first jumpers, had never
flown before! She loved it so much that she was to do it again with Alice (16) her daughter, as did Dr Matthew – who couldn’t wait for his jump to be over because he was hungry and fancied some chips! Many of the participants obtained great sponsorship and this led to many other companies coming on board to support us. This was how it was. We did something and the ripple effect took off – Crazy Hats had certainly captured people’s imaginations as did their desire to do what they could to support us.
Dr Matthew said: “It was one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had, that is, once I landed on my two feet! I was nervous but all my apprehensions disappeared when I saw so many other brave men and women encouraging me and others. Just before the jump the only time I had any reservations was when I was fitted with my harness. I vividly
remembered a programme I used to watch on television; ‘Your Life in their Hands’. Even though I was a doctor, my life was certainly in their hands that day!”
(Many of us had a DVD made of our individual jumps – watching it now is scarier than the jump itself, although saying that – my sister kindly brought me a voucher to do an indoor jump at Milton Keynes. Now that WAS scary!! I much preferred the outdoor one and still cannot believe that I ‘flew’ – that the air inside the tunnel actually held me up!)
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