Wigan woman takes 15,000ft plunge in tribute to brave mum

Sam Aspey, 24, from Hindley Green, decided to brave the jump after her mum, Andrea, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The decision to sky dive to raise money came at the spur of the moment for Sam.

“I wanted to do something to raise money and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to do something different,” she said, “I’d completed 10k runs before but wanted this to be something special.

“One day I thought, ‘I’m going to do a sky dive’ and within two days I’d booked it.”

While Sam was calm and determined with her decision her family were more on the nervous side.

Mum, Andrea, said; “The first thing I thought was she’s not got life insurance!”

Sam’s calm demeanour stayed with her even when on the plane.

“We got to 1,000 ft and I thought ‘oh this will be easy’ and then I realised we had another 14,000 ft to go,” she added.

The money Sam raised will be split between Three Wishes’ Cancer Care Fund and the Women’s Wish Fund, two of the charity’s 11 divisional funds.

Sam’s decision to split the money was as a thank you for the excellent care her mum received from both the Breast Screening service and the staff at the Cancer Care Centre.

“My mum always felt so safe with her treatment here and has been so complimentary about the staff.

“It feels amazing to have raised this money and I’m so thankful for them, we couldn’t have gotten through it without their support.

“Even though I’ve raised this money, I still want to do more. I want everyone to receive the same standard of care as my mum.”

This sentiment is one shared by Andrea who said; “I couldn’t have asked for better treatment or for more support. It’s made me realise just how lucky we are to have this service so close to home.”

As well as raising money for the services Sam and her mum have also been raising awareness for the South Lancashire Breast Screening Service.

Through attending her breast screening appointment with the service Andrea’s cancer was detected early, proving that breast screening can save lives.

The service is offered to all eligible women, registered with a GP, aged between 50 and 70.

Janet Ellison, Patient Navigator, for the South Lancashire Breast Screening Service, said; “I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Sam for being so brave and completing the sky dive and kindly donating money to the Women’s Wish Fund.

“We truly appreciate her support. Sam’s achievement will now help support other women who are receiving care and will help promote awareness and the importance of attending breast screening appointments to other eligible ladies in the area.”

Janet Irvine, Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse, said; “We are always looking at ways to improve our service so this donation will go towards making those improvements to our Cancer Care Centre.”

If anyone requires further information about breast screening, contact the South Lancashire Breast Screening Unit at The Thomas Linacre Centre, Wigan on 01942 774713, or contact your own GP.