Well, we did it.  All three of us successfully completed the jump and have to say it was amazing - a fantastic experience and believe it or not we weren't even scared!!!!  Which in itself is rather scary!!  What next???

 

Thank you so much for your donations and support it really means alot to us and the British Heart Foundation.  We've raised enough so far to fund a defibrillator which will save lives and we couldn't have done it without your help, so thank you.

 

 

Yep, we've finally booked it.  Maria Riley, Lucy Costa and Nicky Midwinter are the three girls who have decided what a great idea it would be to jump out of a plane for the British Heart Foundation.  A little crazy you may think, but there's nothing like jumping out of a plane to get the heart pumping (do you see what we did there??) and the British Heart Foundation is one of those chartities which sadly, at some point in most of our lives, be it us or someone close to us, will benefit from the great work that they do.  But you can help us, help them, help you!

With heart disease already being the biggest killer in the UK, and with the growing obesity issues the country is facing, this is set to soar in the coming years.

BHF is working for not only a cure, but for prevention too.  For example, did you know that as well as campaigning for those already suffering from heart disease including rehabilitation and free prescriptions, they also campaign to help prevent heart disease including childhood obesity, healthier eating - getting food manufactuers to clearly label food packaging being a recent success.  They also now offer the Heart Health Roadshow which gives free advice and support on looking after your heart.

Some examples of where your money may be spent are below:

£10 – Help children cope with bereavement - cover the cost of a bereavement box for a child who has lost a close family member to heart disease. The sensitive story and interaction with the pack’s contents will help a child come to terms with their grief in their own time and their own way. 

£10 - Educate children about the heart - cover the cost of a Big Heart Book teaching resource aimed at 4–7 year olds. This giant A2 sized book meets the Health education curriculum of each UK country, and the stand alone design makes it perfect to use at the front of the class.

£24 – Nurse a broken heart - 2.5 million people are living with heart disease in the UK. Research shows that heart patients benefit greatly from expert nursing care at home; it improves their quality of life and decreases their admissions to hospitals. The value of this gift could provide an hour of specialist care from a BHF Heart Nurse to improve the physical and emotional health of heart patients and their families.

£25 – Help find a cure - fund one of our young scientists for an hour. We currently provide the salaries for around 500 post-doctoral scientists who work in research teams right across the UK on projects to better understand how to diagnose, prevent, treat and cure heart disease. The BHF provides over 50% of all UK cardiovascular research funding. 

£30 - Heartstart UK training pack - the scheme teaches members of the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency.

£50 – Help fund vital lab work - researchers regularly need to measure the levels of specific biological factors in tissue or blood samples. One assay kit, to measure the level of a specific factor in a series of samples, will cost at least £50.

£124 – Fund a resuscitation training manikin - fund the cost of a Little Anne manikin, a realistic adult manikin used when training people in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Performing CPR buys time and more than doubles the chances of survival for someone following a cardiac arrest.

£180 – Nurse a broken heart – as above but for a full day. In this time a Heart Nurse could care for up to six patients to help them manage their condition and prevent further hospital re-admissions.

£200 – Help find a cure – as above but for a whole day.

£250 – Provide a hand held ECG machine - these machines are designed for patients to use at home to monitor their hearts. When they experience a cardiac event this machine will record the hearts rhythm which a doctor can later study and use it to help diagnose the patient’s condition.

£1,500 – Help save a life - the average cost of a defibrillator is £1,500. A defibrillator is a machine that can restart the heart by giving an electric shock in some cases of cardiac arrest. When someone has a cardiac arrest defibrillation needs to be prompt. For every minute that passes chances of survival decrease by 14 per cent. The BHF provides grants to support the cost of life saving defibrillators.

£1,500 – Help Diagnose Heart Disease - the cost of an ECG machine for a GP surgery, hospital wards or a community clinic.  These machines produce a graph tracing of the electrical changes during a heartbeat and can reveal damage to the heart muscle or irregular heart-beats making it one of the most useful diagnostic tool when examining the heart’s function. The BHF provides funding for these machines, which can be used across multi-disciplinary settings. 

 

Right, enough of the serious stuff, we need you to help us make jumping out of a plane worth our while.  So, please show your support for us and this amazing charity by sponsoring us.  Whilst we'd love the big bucks from those that can, we appreciate anything that you can afford - don't worry it will be money well spent!

Thank you so much for your support

Maria, Lucy and Nicky xxx