Sheringham stillbirth mum leads charity skydive

A mum is marking what would have been the 10th birthday of her stillborn son by jumping out of an aeroplane with three friends.

The fearless foursome from Sheringham are doing a charity skydive led by Carol McKean who lost her son Nathan on April 11 2001.

He was born dead after 35 weeks weighing in at 8lb 7oz through a combination of his mum's emerging diabetes and an umbilical cord around his neck.

Eight days later he was buried in a small white coffin and Mrs McKean began fund-raising for the Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society) charity which provides families with support in their grief.

In 2006 the former deputy mayor of Sheringham did the Great South run for the cause.

Now she has enlisted the help of friends to do the tandem parachute jump from 13,000 ft above Beccles airfield on April 9.

'It was a significant birthday, and having done a run I suggested doing a jump,' said Mrs McKean, a support worker at the Surestart centre at Wells.

She is being joined Rebecca James a teaching assistant in the Sheringham Primary School class attended by Mrs McKean's five-year-old daughter Zoe, who is also doing it for Sands.

Class teacher Madeleine Grantham is doing it for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research in memory of her grandparents Neville and Dulcie Richardson, while Kate Banks whose husband Steve is a Sheringham lifeboatman is doing hers for the RNLI.

To support their efforts visit their justgiving sites; www.justgiving.com/Madeleine-Grantham, wwwjustgiving.com/Rebecca-James1, www.justgiving.com/carolmckean2011, and www.justgiving.com/Katebanks