Cealach jumps in Grandad's memory

Cealach Lavelle (19) braved the skies by leaping out of a plane at 1,500ft for Macmillan Cancer.

Speaking to the Times Cealach, who is a student at St Mary’s College, Belfast, explained: “My Grandad Michael died three years ago from lung cancer, he was from Co Mayo and I miss him very much. During his illness Macmillan Cancer was there for him and for the whole family offering care and support. They were just fantastic.

“As a way of saying thanks to them I decided I wanted to raise some money by doing a parachute jump at the Wildgeese Centre in Garvagh. When the day came in early May I was so excited. This was my first ever tandem jump and I couldn’t wait. People say they would have been nervous but I wasn’t at all. Once I’d done it I wanted to do it again - it was just brilliant.”

Cealach was hoping to raise 500 for Macmillan Cancer however that figure was doubled thanks to the support and generosity of the local community.

“My goal was to raise around 500 so you can image how delighted I was when the total came to 1,148,” she added.

“The money was raised thanks to donations from all my family and friends from Ballycastle and Co Mayo. I work in McCaughans and McMichael Pharmacy and the Boyd Arms and Halo Nightclub in Ballycastle and I would really like to thank the management, staff and customers from both establishments for their encouragement, support and great donations.

“Without everyone's help I would never have raised so much money for this brilliant charity and my Grandad Michael.”