Lindfield man’s Mother’s Day skydive raises £6,000 for St Peter & St James Hospice in North Chailey

Ethan Keane completed the daring challenge on Sunday, March 27, with his girlfriend Ashleigh.

Jackie Keane, mother to Daniella, David, Liam and Ethan, passed away at home in March 2021 and the family was supported by the hospice in the last few weeks of her illness.

“Mum was very strong, in both character and body and I think that’s how she fought her illness for so long,” said Ethan.

“She was determined to live as normally as possible and St Peter & St James Hospice helped her do that,” he said.

During the final part of Jackie’s eight-year battle the family needed the support of the hospice’s Community Nursing Team.

Daniella said: “We were never pressured to move Mum – the Hospice respected her wish to remain at home and went out of their way to make it possible for us to respect that wish.”

“You often see adverts or news items about hospices and you don’t really think anything of it – until you need to use their services you just don’t realise how important they are in the community,” she said.

St Peter & St James Hospice said fundraisers are essential because it costs £5.7 million per year for them to provide expert palliative care in the community, with only 11 per cent coming from Government funding.

Ethan called the skydive ‘an incredible experience’ that he would definitely do again and is proud he raised the money.

“I’ve raised over £6,000 but now I want to set a new target of £10,000,” he said.

Donate at justgiving.com/fundraising/ethan-keane.

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