Christine Hosey

"One night a was chatting with my partners 16 year old daughter and she asked me if I would do a bungy jump with her, I said NO WAY!!!  But before I knew it we were talking about parachute jumps and doing things for charity and them I remembered Macmillan and how they had looked after my mum and all of us through such a difficult time, by the next day I was researching jumps on the internet.  However, how the whole thing went from a parachute jump to a 10,000 ft freefall skydive I have no idea!!!

I figured that anyone who knew me would realise that this was the hardest thing I could do, I am a real whimp. I won't even go down the demon drop slide at Flambards!  I hoped this would lead to good sponsorship. Initially after deciding to do it I started waking up drenched in sweat nearly every night, I had every nightmare going, including the instructor dying before he had opened the parachute! The nerves eased off and on the day I was nervous, but not panicking. Once up in the plane I was calmer than I thought I would be, until the last few seconds when I really wanted to say NO! It is a strange thing, I cannot explain, but I managed to shut it all down, I admit that I spoke in my head to my mum and put my faith in her to look after me. I did close my eyes for the exiting of the plane! I cannot praise the instructors, cameraman etc. enough, they were so professional and safety conscious, but they also made me feel very safe and even though I jumped after only having met the person I was attached to an hour before, I really trusted him, it is the ultimate test of trust!

The freefall was scary, it was very cold up there and it is impossible to breathe, I was glad when the canopy opened after about 25 seconds (in which we had covered 5,000 feet!), and then, suddenly, after all the  noise and pressure it was really calm and completely silent! We were still way above the clouds and it felt like we were suspended in the air, there was no sense of downward motion, it was magic! Then I was inside the clouds and then I could see the whole Cornish coastline. The landing was simple and smooth and I had such a grin on my face - I felt absolutely wonderful! I am not sure whether I would do it again. I might - but for me the best thing is that I done something that I never would have believed I could, the personal sense of achievement is unbelievable, and to do it for such a good cause too. I would like to say that I think my mum would have been proud of me but in reality she would have probably thought it a totally stupid and irresponsible thing to do!"