Wigan woman to skydive for The Christie cancer hospital that helped her mum

Sophie Hendry, 23, from Ashton, will be skydiving to raise money for The Christie, to thank them for looking after her mum who had cancer and to help them treat more people.

She will be joined by her partner Jordan Downey, 27, as she takes on the challenge on Saturday.

Sophie’s mum Andrea Hendry, 50, discovered she had throat cancer when she was diagnosed by doctors in January.

Andrea had noticed that a lump in her throat – on which she had received regular biopsies – had grown larger and was more prominent.

The visual changes prompted her to go back for another biopsy and this time, it was cancer.

The news was a huge blow for Andrea and her family – husband Andrew, 58, Sophie and sons Adam, 25, and Alex, 19.

Sophie said: “She was diagnosed in January and it was quite a bit of a shock for us as she’s only 50.

"She’s still young and fit, she plays netball twice a week and has an active job.

"Looking back, we didn’t know what to expect and we were quite fearful as from our point of view, everything we watched on TV was from quite a negative perspective and always sad.

“Your mind does take you to the worst-case scenario and we all were really quite taken aback by it.

"The Christie talked us down from that scare and gave us a much clearer and positive picture.

“It was quite a difficult time and I think we all dealt with it in our own way.

"My mum is the rock of the family, she does everything for us.

"We had to step up but she’s quite stubborn, so I had to tell her sometimes that she doesn’t need to do everything.”

Andrea went through rounds of chemotherapy and then rounds of radiotherapy over a six-week period.

Near the end of her treatment, Andrea started coughing and she was feeling unwell and so went back into hospital, where they discovered the fluids she was drinking were going into her lungs.

Andrea had to have a feeding tube to get vital nutrients inside her and keep her strong.

Andrea recovered from this and eventually she went back for a scan and was given the all-clear in June.

Sophie said: “She was admitted to hospital for about 10 days, that was hard because we weren’t able to go in and visit her. I found that really tough.

"They moved her to a separate room of her own where there was a window, so we used to go and stand outside and wave to her.

"But we couldn’t see her as the hospital windows were reflective on the outside. She was still able to see us though.

“When we heard mum had been given the all-clear we were so happy.

"She’s back to doing normal stuff again now.

"She’s a tough woman and my family have been incredible.

“I will also be doing other fund-raising activities at a social club in Orrell in September and my two brothers will also be taking part in the Tough Mudder challenge in October.”

Donate to Sophie’s fund-raising appeal at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Sophie-Hendry22