Grandma to skydive in aid of daughter
Adventurous pensioner Jean Sims is making the leap to raise money for research into auto-immune hepatitis, the disease that almost claimed the life of 46-year-old Diana Higman.
The condition makes the body's immune system attack liver cells and, after it was diagnosed, doctors told Mrs Sims they had only three days to find her daughter a new liver.
She said: "I was very scared. My husband Sam had died only a fortnight before and now I was close to losing Diana.
"I felt numb the whole time."
Mrs Sims, of Allestree, has always wanted to do a skydive.
She said: "I'm really looking forward to it. I've been up in a microlight and a hot-air balloon and enjoyed those. I'm doing a tandem jump with an instructor so I won't be alone.
"Diana is my only daughter and I did not want to lose her. Hopefully this jump will raise a lot of money to help research into the disease."
Single mum-of-three Mrs Higman had always been fit and healthy before she was struck down with liver disease last August.
She said: "I noticed I was a lot more tired than normal so I went to see my doctor. They ran some tests and within a couple of weeks I had been rushed to hospital in Birmingham for a liver transplant."
She said the liver that was found was not ideal but it was the only option.
She said: "Between the first tests in Derby to the transplant itself a few weeks later, I deteriorated so quickly. Before the operation, I could barely write my own name because my liver was not cleaning out toxins properly and they were just running around my body."
It took months for Mrs Higman, who had been training as a student nurse before contracting the disease, to recover after the transplant.
She said: "When I saw pictures of how I was just after the operation, I looked awful.
"I shrank down to seven stone."
Mrs Higman, who lives with her children Jessica, 19, Jade, 18 and Megan, nine, in Allestree Lane, Allestree, said she thought her mum was amazing for doing the skydive.
She said: "It was mum's idea. She is amazing. She visited me all the time in hospital and made sure I was all right when I left hospital and all this after losing Dad. I owe her so much.
"I think she'll be jumping from about 30,000ft."
Her mum is planning to carry out the dive in August.
BRAVERY: Diana Higman, 46, with her mother, Jean Sims, 87, who plans a charity skydive from 30,000 feet for medical research.
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