A LEUKAEMIA sufferer from Tavistock will be jumping out of an aeroplane with a good friend in celebration of his 71st birthday and to raise funds for three worthy causes.

Graham Parker and friend Julie Williams will be grabbing their parachutes and heading to the skies on May 22 in a nerve-racking skydive to raise money for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), the Plymouth and District Leukaemia Fund (PDLF) and Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Graham and Julie came up with the brave idea during a visit to their local pub.

Graham said: ‘Julie mentioned that she is involved in a Voluntary Service Overseas fundraising effort in Whitchurch. VSO has always been close to my heart and, as a Rotarian for 25 years, I have worked with a number of young people travelling abroad under the VSO umbrella. I couldn’t resist the invitation to join in with Julie.

‘Together, with some encouragement from my wife Ginnie, we convinced each other that a parachute jump would be a splendid way of raising money. And what better day to jump out of a plane than my 71st birthday? Then our horizons changed. VSO will need about £1,500 so, we thought, why not go all out for a major fundraising target? We decided that, after the VSO contribution, any money raised will be split between two charities that are hugely important to all three of us — the PDLF and Muscular Dystrophy UK.’

Graham has supported the cause of leukaemia research and treatment for the last ten years — from the day he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Together with friends and rotary colleagues, Graham and Ginnie have raised around £15,000 for leukaemia charities. In 2011, Ginnie undertook a parachute jump raising thousands of pounds for Cure Leukaemia.

‘Three years ago, my leukaemia came back and I got into real trouble,’ said Graham.

‘The wonderful staff at Birch and Bracken wards on Derriford saved my life twice and, since then, their support and treatment have helped me to regain a very high quality of life.

‘I have long wanted to repay even a little for the life that these people have given me and, when I heard that PDLF has a fundraising effort to extend and improve those wards, I jumped at the chance to offer my support.

‘The staff at Derriford are among the best in the world at helping people with leukaemia and if we can raise a significant amount of money to provide them with equipment to match their brilliance, then that will be a tremendous achievement’

Julie will be raising funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK, in particular research into facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

More than 70,000 people in the UK have MD or a related condition. MD is caused by mutations in the genes, which cause changes in the muscle fibres, interfering with the muscles’ ability to function. Over time, this causes increasing disability.

Graham added: ‘Please visit our JustGiving page and help us to raise money for these fantastic charities.

‘We are paying all of the cost ourselves, so everything that we get from the JustGiving page will go to them.’

Anyone who would like to donate towards the causes can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/julie-and-graham-007