Big leap of faith to raise charity cash

Photo: Paul Clegg

ALISON LABREY.

A NURSE who is terrified of flying is to make a skydive to help raise funds for a tiny charity.

Mother of three, Alison Labrey, from Dobcross, is conquering her lifelong fears to support her niece who works for Findacure, which helps patients and support groups with extremely rare diseases.

Alison, a member of Dobcross Village Community Executive Committee, is a district nurse based at Chadderton.

Her niece, Libby Read, has worked for the charity for two years since graduating from Cambridge University.

Said Alison: "Libby is so passionate about the charity and she really believes in the work they do.

"I got talked into doing the skydive when my niece was visiting at Christmas.

"Initially, I did try to get out of it as I have a real fear of flying ­- never mind actually jumping from a plane.

"But I felt once I had agreed it was now or never time ­- so it became now.

"I have set a target of raising £500 but obviously I would love to completely smash that.

"It would be great if people could just sponsor £1 to my charity page as every little helps," she added.

Findacure Foundation is a national charity building the rare disease community to drive research and develop treatments.

They offer small patient support organisations the tools they need to make a bigger difference to the lives of their patients, including improving their support and getting involved in clinical research.

Sharing knowledge and experience between patient groups saves precious time, money and resources. And they are also researching potential treatments through drug repurposing technology.

Their drug repurposing project will be funded using innovative social impact financing, the first of its kind, which will also save the NHS money.

Alison's skydive is planned for Saturday, August 19 in March, Cambridgeshire. Donations can be made to her charity page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/alisonlabrey.