Jacob Whitehouse celebrated his 16th birthday in style by taking part in a parachute jump to raise funds for his school. The student from Victoria Education Centre – Livability’s school for disabled children – has ALD, a life threatening brain disease, which affects his speech and mobility.
With the permission from his consultant at Poole Hospital, Dr. Mark Tighe – and also from his mum April – Jacob’s wish to jump out of a plane finally came true!
“Jumping out of the plane felt like going on a roller coaster”, said Jacob. “It was awesome and I saw Stonehenge! I also wanted to see my mum scared!”
Jacob with his mum April and instructor Henk
April Whitehouse, Jacob’s mum said, “Jacob has talked about taking part in a parachute jump for a long time and I finally gave in! And yes, thank you very much Jacob, I was scared out of my wits!”
Jacob took part in the tandem sky dive with lead instructor Henk Post from GoSkyDive, whose team filmed the day from start to finish. Henk said:
“We had an amazing day, the weather was perfect and we could see for miles. Jacob is an incredible young man and very brave and I was so happy to be part of his special day”.
Amazingly, Jacob has gone above and beyond his fundraising target of £1,500 through his JustGiving page. The generosity of family, friends and the general public has enabled him to reach nearly £2,000 for Victoria Education Centre.
Simon Brown, Headteacher at Victoria Education Centre said:
“The money raised from Jacob’s jump will go towards providing a covered walkway between two buildings at the school. This will provide much needed protection from the elements for staff and students. We still have a long way to go to raise enough money for this facility, and we are so grateful to Jacob and his family for their incredible efforts towards our goal.”
To continue Jacob’s fundraising quest please visit Jacob’s Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/Jacob-Whitehouse.
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