A 12-strong team of work colleagues from Kirkham’s Morrisons supermarket have their heads and hearts in the clouds as they prepare to plummet more than 10,000ft from an aeroplane at speeds of up to 120mph in a skydive to raise funds for the Renal Unit at the Royal Preston Hospital.
The group is falling in behind Rad Tingle, of Freckleton, who is the store’s community champion and founder of an invisible disabilities community group that meets there monthly.
The 32-year-old suffers from a very rare inherited genetic disorder called von Hippel-Lindau syndrome or VHL disease, which causes tumours and cysts to grow in various parts of the body, including the brain, spinal cord, eyes, inner ear, pancreas and kidneys.
Three years ago, Rad, who is blind in his left eye and deaf in his left ear, underwent a kidney transplant in Manchester but prior to that had been a Renal Unit dialysis patient for two years.
His transplant has enabled Rad, who has worked at the Morrisons store for the last four years, to go from being an armchair adrenalin junkie to the real thing.
Last year, he and another colleague, Charlotte Day, parachuted from the same Lancaster airfield that he and his new team of skydivers will visit on Thursday, 20th July.
That jump raised more than £1,000 for the Children’s Appeal being run by the charity team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and was then doubled by match funding from Morrisons.
Rad also organised for himself and colleagues to raise funds for Blackpool’s Brian House Children’s Hospice by being sponsored to ride the world’s fastest zip line at Penrhyn Quarry in North Wales.
Now he’s hoping his latest daredevil feat will raise £5,000 in sponsorship as a thank you for the treatment he received as a Renal Unit patient with Morrisons again promising to double the donation if the team achieves its target.
Rad, who will be the youngest of the Morrison skydivers with the most senior aged 70-years-old, said: “I count myself very lucky to have undergone a kidney transplant. It has completely changed my life for the better.
“I wouldn’t have been able to have skydived last year without having had the transplant. The dive was brilliant. I loved it. It was on my bucket list and it’s something I am really looking forward to doing again.”
Rad has organised sponsored bag packs at Blackpool and Kirkham Morrisons that raised more than £600 and has plans to do the same at stores at Preston Deepdale and the docks to help the team reach its donation goal. To support the team, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/morrisonskirkham
Head of Charity for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Paula Wilson, who will work with Renal Unit staff to decide on what the donation will be spent, said: “I wish Rad and the team the very best of luck with their skydiving plans. It is fantastic to receive this kind of heart-felt support. It really gives a massive to boost to staff and current Renal Unit patients.”