A team of skydiving nurses have raised thousands of pounds for their hospital.
Falling 15,000 feet in just over a minute, the medics collected over £3,000 in donations for cancer hospital The Christie.
The jump took place on a blazing hot day at Black Knights Skydiving Centre in Cockerham, Lancaster.
The combined total raised by the eight nurses was £3,715, all of which will go towards services and projects at the largest single-site cancer treatment centre in Europe.
The skydiving team was made up of eight nurses, newly qualified and experienced senior staff alike, who care for some of the most unwell cancer patients.
For nurse Karyn Cocozza, 53, this fundraising is particularly personal, as she was treated for breast cancer at The Christie in 2019.
She said: “Every day we see the courage and resilience that our patients show when undergoing treatment.
“What we did is nothing compared to that.
“If we can raise awareness and funds to make life a little bit easier for these patients and to give them the opportunity to access groundbreaking treatment, trials and technology, then we are more than happy and proud to do our bit.”
Ward manager Catherine Clarke, 46, told us about the fall, describing it as: “half elating, half disgusting”.
But it was worth it, as she added: “we’re all here today because we love where we work and we love our patients”.
The Christie treats over 60,000 patients a year.
It is the largest provider of radiotherapy in the NHS and home to the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK.
The nurses who completed the jump were Rasleen Sharma (22), Rhiana Smith (23), Sarah Plent (23), Grace Maxwell (27), Natasha Rodway Studds (27), Abbie Gunton (28), Catherine Clarke (46) and Karyn Cocozza (53).
After an extraordinary, sun-soaked day in the clouds, the nurses are now back to work, doing another extraordinary thing: treating patients and saving lives.
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