It was a stunning bright blue morning on Sunday 2nd July as we pulled up for the scheduled sponsored skydive I'd been anticipating for weeks. Not a cloud in the sky, not a breeze to be felt, not a complaint to be heard about the blazing sunshine that graced St Andrews

Hang on... strike that!

More accurately, the original arranged day was in fact cursed with torrential downpours, thunder and lightening, overcast low-lying clouds, high ground winds, the works..... suitable flying conditions? Nah... not quite!

After waiting the entire day for a break in the weather, we eventually called it off and rearranged.

Although I was disappointed at the time, it all paid off by the time I returned a few days later to the same St Andrews airbase. This time, as we pulled up for the newly scheduled sponsored skydive I'd been anticipating for weeks there was not a cloud in the sky, not a breeze to be felt and not a complaint to be heard about the blazing sunshine that graced St Andrews.

Cue the excitement!

After living the entire 18 years of my little young life with a terrible fear of heights, I was strangely unafraid and unphased by what I was about to do. To be honest, I was more daunted by the bright grass-green, all-in-one jump suits we were both told to put on!

We got the training, we had the safety briefing, we were all kitted up.... it was just a matter of waiting our turn for the plane. Tick Tock.

My sister Stephanie, who is two years my senior, was in on the experience with me. Although she is not a member of Different Strokes, she knows the benefit the charity is to young stroke survivors like myself. She knows how I would not be as well as I am today without the help and support I sought from the charity, and she knows how much I want to put my recovery experience and my lasting abilities into helping others. For this I was very thankful to her, especially since she was the one who was psychologically doubled up in fear over doing the jump!

When the time came, I felt strangely surreal. We strutted out in our fetching outfits - now complete with safety caps and goggles - to meet the professional skydivers who we were to be jumping alongside. The four of us clambered on into the tiny little plane; after the door was rolled down, we were off!

By this point I had expected the fear to kick in. However, I was most surprised that it had not. I knew it was the moment I had been waiting so long for, my excitement building and building as the altitude slowly crept up and up towards the 10,000 feet mark.

As I was waiting, and admiring the spectacular view, so many thoughts were running through my mind. I couldn't stop smiling. If you asked me a year ago if I would ever do a skydive, I would have laughed in your face - getting me to climb a ladder was a chore. But after I had my stroke and got through my heart operations, it takes a lot more to phase me. Getting through what I have been through at such a young age has made me a stronger person, a better person, and a more determined person.

That is why, when the shutter rolled up, I knew I wouldn't chicken out. It was one moments worth of a decision, yet had I not jumped it would have meant a lifetimes worth of regret.

And before I knew it I was out.

The first split-second of falling your heart jumps into your mouth and your initial instinct is to scream. Though, once you have adapted the skydive position - head up, legs back, stomach down - you embrace the fall and are 'flying' against the wind. Despite being two miles up and traveling at 120mph during the freefall, everything seems to just slowdown. Your voice seems to be muted so screaming seems pointless - you can do nothing but enjoy the view and the fantastic feeling.

After 5000 feet, which goes over far to quickly, the parachute is released and with a giant lurch of the harness you are positioned upright, with a substantially slower and more elegant flying pace. The feeling was incredible as I looked around, the patch-work quilt that was the ground was slowly coming closer and closer as we twisted from side to side and round and round with many a fabulous trick. The amazing feeling is almost too hard to describe, yet too easy to become addicted to. I can quite understand why people do that for a living.... despite the risk of "serious injury or death"

As the ground approached we rather elegantly swooped down and with the help of the light breeze in the right direction we had a perfect touch down.

And my feet were safe on the ground.

Ahhhh.

The assistants on standby to catch the parachute came over to un-clip me and when they asked me how I found it, I am quite sure I said something unrecognisable in French. My ability to communicate had dispersed into some sort of a jumble through pure adrenalin! As we walked over to the side I was numb with pure disbelief of what I had achieved. I watched from the side as my sister came into landing. Admittedly, mine was a far better landing [of course!] but i shan't embarrass her and mention that she fell...

I ran to meet her and together, with our instructors, we headed over to the spectator area in a very slow motion, astronaut like fashion. After posing for photos, and collecting certificates, it was official: we had done it!

From doing the skydive I have now not only overcome my fear of heights, but also raised a lot of money for Different Strokes. Together, Stephanie and I got over £1200 in sponsor money (before jump expenses) which I was absolutely thrilled with. I feel very passionately for broadening the knowledge of strokes in young people, and getting word out there about the charity. I did have a troubled and very lonely and isolated recovery, but now that I am fully recovered I would like nothing more than for every effort to be put into making sure no other stroke survivor has to go through the same thing.

If I had Different Strokes from day one things would have been a lot easier - though I am not bitter; I am thankful. Thankful that they were there when others were not. Thankful that they let people jump out of planes when others (mainly my mother) would not!

Thank you to everyone who supported me, whether it be through giving me advice when I needed it or helping me raise money towards the jump. I am amazed at what I have achieved, and what I have been able to contribute to the charity.

Just think, if I can do it - you can too! :-)

Laura Wood
lira_wid@hotmail.com