A group of youngsters are looking for more brave supporters to join them when they throw themselves out of a plane to raise money for Meningitis Now
Stacey, Ryan, and Rachel are all preparing to leap from the terrifying height of 13,000ft and are hoping their courage will encourage others to sign up for the challenge.
All three youngsters met through Meningitis Now’s Believe & Achieve programme, which is aimed at anyone aged between 14 and 25 who has been impacted by meningitis. The skydive is taking place in Peterborough on 23 August but Ryan asked for potential volunteers to come forward before 10 August if possible.
“From the start of being on the receiving end of support from Meningitis Now I set myself a goal that for however much support I received, I would give two times more back,” said Ryan explaining why he was taking part.
“One of my closest friends came up with the idea to do something unforgettable and challenging.”
Very personal reasons
Original plans to carry out an abseil down a building didn’t come to anything but then the group “quite literally jumped ahead of themselves” by signing up for the 13,000 feet, free-falling skydive.
All three taking part so far have very personal reasons for wanting to raise money for Meningitis Now.
Ryan said he hadn’t even been aware that young adults could contact meningitis when he became ill. He had gone for a run, and “shrugged off” the symptoms as if they weren’t anything serious. He ended up contracting first bacterial meningitis and then, three years later, viral. The disease left him deaf and Meningitis Now funded his BSL (British Sign Language) lessons as well as guided and supported him through depression.
Stacey is a friend of Ryan’s and said she wanted to support Meningitis Now as a charity she hadn’t even known existed until he told her about it. She said it was a charity “close to our hearts” and that it held a lot of meaning for all involved.
Finally, Rachel said she was spurred into doing the skydive because of all the “inspiring” people she had met through Believe & Achieve. Rachel had meningitis herself and said she had found it a challenge to manage the after-effects. She had recently graduated from university and was due to start her first teaching job soon, but wanted to raise awareness on the sort of impact the disease can have.
Good luck to all three brave Believe & Achievers – and don’t forget to contact us at believe&achieve@meningitisnow.org if you want to join them.
