Jump for Mind - Jenny's story

Posted Friday 20 August 2010

My mum battled with depression for many years and in 2009 sadly took her own life. She committed suicide by walking out of the house one morning in the dark and freezing cold, walking a mile from home in a flimsy nightie, with no shoes on and plunging herself into the deepest darkest lock of a local canal. Anyone who knew the strong and wonderful person my mum was would realize how ill she would have to be to do such a thing – how irretrievable she must have felt her life had become.  

I was planning a sky dive with colleagues as a personal challenge and fundraising exercise and after my mum died I decided to organise a jump for Mind. 

Depression is a poorly understood disease.  Society shuns it as something people should be able to avoid by “pulling their socks up and getting on with life”. If through Mind’s work we could reach out to even one person and help them, then the jump would be worthwhile.   

I opened the jump out to all of my colleagues at the veterinary company I work for, and brilliantly 24 of us signed up. The 20 minute climb up to 10,000 feet was beautiful, the sun dipping in the clear blue sky. After the darkness and despair I had felt about mum's suicide, although I was very emotionally affected, the beauty of the panoramic scenery seemed fitting as a tribute to the wonderful person she was. 

We managed to raise £5,000 for Mind with the jump. All my colleagues fundraised in different innovative ways. We had a JustGiving page, Ebay auctions, car boot sales, charity hair cuts, supermarket bag packs and in clinic charity boxes. 

I felt that the day had been a magnificent tribute and that we had achieved something special by raising so much money to help Mind and the people they support every day. It was a mind blowing experience and I would do it again and again were I to have the opportunity. 

Mind supporter Jenny Walton

Mind is looking for more people with an adventurous spirit to take on a sponsored parachute jump this summer. It’s a fantastic opportunity to combine raising vital funds with an exhilarating experience of a lifetime.

Over the coming year we hope to raise over £30,000 through parachuting alone to help fund our important work. To be a part of this fantastic fundraising challenge for Mind – get in touch today.

You can find out more about sponsored parachute jumps on our website, by calling 0871 872 1144 or by completing this short form today.

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3 Comments

• ruth gibbons replied on 22 Aug 2010 at 17:58

  I am sure that many people feel inspired by your strength and determination to suceed. Well done you!

• Wendy replied on 24 Aug 2010 at 10:22

  Well i've battled with depression most of my life and it's not easy someone saying pull your socks up or snap out of it just makes things worse. I'm disabled and can't get around sometimes so easy and i have a great carer except i feel she's having a breakdown and that is not so good.
  I'm so down and having so many problems with her that i just don't know how to go on she's dragging me down and her husband it's not good at all.
  We know it's not her fault or indeed her doing it but it's hard.

• Nicola from Free Your Mind replied on 6 Sep 2010 at 15:38

  I'm very sorry about your mum, but I also think it is remarkable that you turned what happened into something positive by doing the sponsored jump. Like you said, and like most mental illnesses, depression is largely misunderstood, and that is a sad fact.

  I have faced discrimination because of my diagnosis (borderline personality disorder) and it was this very ignorance that led me to coming up with my Free Your Mind campaign, which aims to battle stigma towards mental illness through the use of art, music, film and culture. Free Your Mind has a blog: http://free-your-mind-campaign.blogspot.com/

  Nicola. x