A newlywed couple will celebrate their one-year anniversary with a difference - by jumping out of a plane.
Chesca Burrows, 27 who has never flown in a plane before and is terrified of heights, will join her husband James, 33, for a charity skydive to raise cash for St Michael’s Hospice on September 17. The couple, who live in South Ham, hope to raise £5,000 in memory of her mum Stacey Oszczyk who died at the hospice a month after her wedding last year.
“We are doing it because we are crazy,” said Mrs Burrows. “When I saw the flyer in the local hospice shop for the dive, and realised the date of it, I knew I simply had to do it. I am quite scared and nervous about it, but at the moment I am not thinking about it.”
Chesca’s mum tragically died after two weeks in the hospice following a five years battle with cancer. In 2005 she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. By November 2009 the disease had spread to her lungs and her health deteriorated throughout 2010. But she was determined to put on a spectacular wedding for her daughter and took a leading role in organising the big day.
Chesca said: “She was so involved in planning the wedding, organising all the party bits and making it special. Despite our wedding being just six weeks before she died, no one really had any comprehension of how ill she was - she had focused her all on making that a magical day for us, and as I said, she shone at least as brightly as the bride.”
Chesca told the Observer that right up until her death Stacey was a keen supporter of the hospice, she volunteered at the St Michael’s Hospice charity shop in South Ham for five years. Chesca said: “St Michael’s Hospice were amazing. She was only 49 when she went there. She was really scared but they let us stay with her all the time. They were brilliant taking care of her.
“That she was taken from us just as we were starting to have her back again is a cruel blow - but her strength of character, borne out of love for her family, still amazes me - she was an incredibly strong, brave woman to the very end.”
To sponsor Chesca and James’ dive, visit www.justgiving.com/anna-o
