Sky's no limit for Emma

Brightwalton mother planning charity skydive for hospital ward that saved son's life

A BRIGHTWALTON mother will be taking part in a charity skydive along with seven of her closest family and friends to raise funds for the hospital ward that gave life-saving treatment to her newborn son.

Emma Fish, 31, and her team of fearless fundraisers, which includes her 75-year-old grandmother, are hoping to raise as much money as possible for the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Southampton University Hospital, where her now one-year-old son was taken after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 2016.

Little Eliot Fish underwent emergency treatment at the PICU when he was just four days old and, following the life-saving surgery, was cared for at the hospital for more than two weeks.

And the care, help and support provided by staff to Eliot, as well as to the family, has prompted Mrs Fish, and her husband, Jordan, to embark on a fundraising drive to help buy more equipment for the PICU.

With just over a week to go until the jump, Mrs Fish admitted the nerves were kicking in, but said the whole group would ultimately be raring to take the plunge for such a good cause.

“The work they do is saving children’s lives every single day. It’s quite remarkable,” she said. “That unit relies on these donations.

“It was very early on when we were in hospital that we mentioned a sky dive. My mum suggested it as a bit of a joke and it’s just grown from there.

“We lived there for two-and-a-half weeks, and he was in the intensive care unit for six days.”

A year on, Eliot is now doing well according to doctors and the Fish family hope that the money can go towards helping others who require treatment at the PICU.

The skydive will take place on Sunday, September 17, in Salisbury and will form part of a larger fundraising drive from Mr Fish, also 31, who is planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in October.

To sponsor Team Eliot, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/team-eliot

Team Eliot pictured from left are Debbie Kimber, Sarah Ceney, Jan Redmond, Kirsty Nunn, Emma Fish, Jackie Winterbourne, Claire Gorman and Margaret Spence.