Student raises more than £5,000 through skydive for Lancaster charity CancerCare

Georgina Bradshaw, 20, from Cockerham, whose mum Jean, 59, has cancer, said she was hugely grateful for the help CancerCare has been giving her in recent months.

Georgina said: “I wanted to raise some money to show how much I appreciated the help I’ve had.

“I was told I’d need to raise at least £350 to do the sky dive and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to raise that much.

“After four hours of putting it on social media I had raised £1,000. I had a lot of shares on Facebook.

“I was crying – I couldn’t get over how generous people were.”

Georgina, a former pupil of Ripley St Thomas CE Academy who is studying for an engineering degree with Lancaster University at Bispham, lives with her mum and her brothers Scott, 25, and Jonny, 26.

She comes from a farming family and has been a member of Winmarleigh Young Farmers for six years.

Georgina said: “My mum was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. She had two operations and almost six months of chemo then was in remission for nine months. Then the cancer came back. It had spread to other parts of her body.

“After looking at all of her options she has decided not to have any further treatment. Quality of life is more important now. She has been to lots of different countries and is doing things she always wanted to do. I’m so glad she is doing that.”

Georgina has been receiving counselling at CancerCare to help her with the emotional impact of her mum’s illness.

She said: “Everyone is so nice at CancerCare. My counsellor has helped me a lot and I look forward to going there.”

Jean and other supporters watched Georgina do the sky dive at the Black Knights Parachute Centre at Cockerham in September.

“It was amazing,” said Georgina.

“I was sitting on the edge of the plane at 15,000ft and I wasn’t scared at all. I’d definitely do it again.”

Jean said: “I’m really proud that Georgina wanted to do the sky dive.

“It was a wonderful day. I couldn’t see her at first and then we saw her parachute which had the French flag on it. I could hear her going ‘whee!’ all the way down.

“She’s a gorgeous young lady and she is so loved.”

Georgina added that her brothers and her dad John, 60, were very proud of her as well.

Anna Webster, Fundraising Team Coordinator for CancerCare, said: “What Georgina has done is such an achievement and it is such a lot of money.

“It’s phenomenal. It will help so many people; people like Georgina and her family.

“It means the world that Georgina has done this. We are so proud of her.”

Donations can still be made to Georgina’s fund at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georginabradshaw98

If you would like to find out more about CancerCare’s free support services or to find out about fundraising opportunities, please go to www.cancercare.org.uk