Sailing through 12,000 feet to raise awareness of organ donation
A team of brave fundraisers took on a 12,000 foot skydive to raise money for the EMEESY (East Midlands, East of England and South Yorkshire) service, which treats young patients undergoing treatment for kidney disease. The reason? Twelve-year-old Dylan, who was diagnosed with incurable kidney disease at the age of five. His parents, Rachel and Craig, tell his story and explain why the team got involved in this daring fundraising challenge:
“We organised a skydive to raise money for EMEESY as Dylan first met the team when he was diagnosed with incurable kidney disease at just five years old. Unfortunately he has never reached remission and sadly in the last year, Dylan has progressed to end stage renal failure and requires haemodialysis.
The EMEESY have been phenomenal in their support for both Dylan and our entire family throughout this very difficult time. Dylan’s consultants, the nursing team and his youth worker have gone above and beyond in the care for him, as they do with all the children they look after.
We decided to do a charity skydive alongside other parents and friends to raise money for the unit. One of these participants was Thomas Hamilton, who recently received a kidney transplant and is doing fantastic. All thanks to the wonderful care of excellent care of the EMEESY team.
Other skydivers include Zoe Brown, mum of Alfie, who is being treated for stage 4 chronic kidney disease, and Zoe’s sister Emma Fyson. Mark Hamilton, who was his son Thomas’s kidney donor, and Daniel Jones previously worked for TikTok influencer Spudman, who joined our team after hearing about our fundraising efforts via TikTok.
The team were so brave on the day and to know they have all helped make a difference to patients undergoing treatment on the EMEESY is incredible. We’re so grateful for all our supporters who helped patients like Dylan.”
We’re so grateful to Dylan’s family and friends for taking on this immense fundraising challenge and helping to make a difference to young patients at Nottingham Children’s Hospital. Every donation is helping to provide specialist equipment and child-friendly facilities for all patients on the Children’s Renal Unit.
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