Couldn't believe it was real: Paul's skydive

After painting my nails blue a few years ago to Be Bold in Blue for MS Awareness Week, I wanted to really raise the profile of the MS Trust and all the good work it does. More importantly, I wanted to educate people about MS. This time I wanted to do something different. Something that made a real statement. Something that pushed me beyond my comfort zone (beyond anyone’s).

When I signed up in February I thought it was a great idea, something amazing. Once the money started coming in I started to feel really good. People were really supporting me! Then as the months turned into weeks and then into days I got more and more worried. I really wanted to do it but was really scared the night before. I only slept for about 4 hours.

From the moment I arrived at the airfield it dawned on me what I was actually going to do. All the way through the training, and all the paperwork and everything, I kept thinking it wasn’t real. Even putting my harness on and getting in the plane, still not real.

Then the moment I sat on the edge of the plane I knew it was real and all the worry and fear was just about to be quashed. That 5 seconds sitting on the edge was the longest 5 seconds ever in my life.  

But the 50 seconds of freefall at 125mph was the fastest 50 seconds of my life (and also the 50 seconds I will forever remember). It was so noisy and so fast.

Then when the parachute was opened it was so quiet, almost still, as we drifted down. A complete contrast to the speed and noise of the freefall. Then we landed and I was overjoyed.