Middleton cancer survivor to take leap of faith

Middleton resident Maureen will be taking to the sky on September 20 for the second time in just over a year.

Her latest parachute jump will take place some 12,000-15,000ft above Headcorn in Kent where she made her debut leap last July.

But just three weeks after that heady experience she was hit with a diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer.

Maureen, 65, of Aspen Way, said: “I did the jump on July 2 and I had been for a mammogram on June 30.

“Two weeks later, I was called into Worthing Hospital and told I had cancer. I had a biopsy to see how aggressive it was and ended up having a full mastectomy on September 2.

“I was on such a high after my parachute jump and then, two months later, I was having major surgery. It just goes to show how life can change so quickly.”

Her operation was followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy which ended in March. Maureen, a part-time charity finance officer, will be making her latest jump in aid of two charities: Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK. She will be joined by 11 others, mostly in their late teens and early 20s and also raising money for cancer charities.

Maureen, who has three children and one grandchild, hopes the group will raise up to £6,000. She raised £800 on her own last year to help a friend’s child with cerebral palsy and thoroughly enjoyed her ‘brilliant’ jump from 12,500ft.

To support her go to www.justgiving.com/maureen-pasterfield.