Heart transplantee from Salisbury to skydive for Transplant Sport
Lucy Ryan will be free-falling for 30 seconds, one for each year of life thanks to her donor
A heart transplantee from Salisbury is to skydive from 10,000ft for charity Transplant Sport on Monday (29th May).
Lucy Ryan, who had a heart transplant as a child, recently competed at the World Transplant Games, where she won a silver medal in the 3km racewalk.
She admits to some nerves ahead of the jump, that has twice been cancelled. “It’s not something I’ve ever wanted to do,” Lucy says, “but I figured I can’t ask people to sponsor me for something I would like to do. It has to be something challenging.”
Lucy will be jumping in tandem, “otherwise theres no way I’m getting out of the door!” she says, although she adds that she’s looking forward to enjoying the views over Old Sarum.
“Apparently you sometimes you can even see the Isle of Wight if it's clear enough, so that would be pretty amazing!”
Third time's the charm
Lucy has twice previously prepared herself for the jump, but it was called off on both occasions, the first being for poor weather.
“The second time, I’d done all my training, I was all dressed in the gear ready to go up in the next plane and then unfortunately, the plane before us had to come down because the clouds had descended.
“We hung around for about 3 hours hoping they would kind of clear, but sadly they didn’t.”
Thankfully for Lucy, the weather is forecast to be good on Monday.
Transplant Sport
The skydive is all in aid of Transplant Sport, a charity that helps run the British Transplant Games and has helped Lucy in her journey as an athlete.
Lucy says: “They are a really good way for people who are quite nervous post-transplant because a lot of people have been ill all their lives before transplant, or they suddenly got ill, and they have this transplant, which is great, but they've been quite worried about what they can do afterwards.”
The charities work is “inspiring”, she says, adding: “it's really encouraging because it makes you realize you can achieve sometimes more than you thought you could.”
Founded in 1978, the charity has become the largest national charity promoting post-transplant activity.
You can donate to Lucy’s GoFundMe page here.