Earlier this month, mother and daughter Selina Henson and Ava Taroni, jumped almost 15,000ft in a tandem skydive to raise money for Good Hope Hospital Charity in memory of their good friend Jessica Bourne.

Jessica was diagnosed with cancer and received her treatment at Good Hope Hospital’s cancer centre until she passed away in January this year.

With young children, Jessica and her friends and family found it hard to explain to the children what their mom’s diagnosis meant and what the treatment was for.

Mark Chambers, Oncology Senior Charge Nurse at Good Hope Hospital, gave Jessica’s children cancer cloud kits funded by the hospital charity that are specifically designed for children and young people whose parents have sadly been diagnosed with cancer.

The kits, which include different ones for different ages, are designed to give information about the diagnosis in an accessible format to children. The kits include activities and therapy tools to be used by parents and teachers and are there to support children in processing their emotions and coming to terms with the diagnosis.

Talking about the cloud kits, Selina said: “Jess and I were in awe of the cancer cloud kits given to her whilst receiving chemotherapy at Good Hope Hospital, these are only made available through generous charity donations and they are a great idea.

“I wish all young children were given these kits when their parents get diagnosed with cancer because they need lots of support and an understanding of what the diagnosis in their terms.”

Selina and Ava raised have raised almost £2,000 for the cancer cloud kits that are provided by the hospital charity at Good Hope Hospital!

Selina also said: “I decided the skydive would be a perfect way to help more children like Jess’s girls. As mother and daughter we togged up and left fear on the ground and with fantastic support we thoroughly enjoyed our skydive in memory of our beautiful friend Jessica.”

Laura Power, Fundraising Manager at Good Hope Hospital Charity, said: “A huge well done goes to Selina and Ava for braving a skydive! Thank you so much for raising such an incredible amount of money for the cancer cloud kits in memory of your friend Jessica.

“The department are always using these kits for children to help them have an understanding of what’s going on in their own terms so they are really useful for every child whose family member sadly gets diagnosed with cancer.”

If Selina and Ava’s challenge has inspired you to do something daring, look out on our website here for when the 2020 skydives get announced!

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