Holmfirth mum Sharon Heppenstall free falls for daughter’s heart charity

Dec 1 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A MUM has taken the plunge to raise cash for the hospital that saved her daughter’s life.

Sharon Heppenstall, 38, from Holmfirth, has raised £2,000 in a 10,000ft tandem skydive on the first anniversary of daughter Holly’s operation.

Holly, now 19 months, was born with a hole in her heart and needed open heart surgery to close the hole and widen one of her heart valves.

The youngster was treated at Leeds General Infirmary’s heart unit and has since recovered to lead the life of a normal toddler.

To raise cash for the unit’s charity, the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF), Sharon made her first skydive at Hibaldstow airfield, North Lincolnshire.

CHSF funds equipment, resources and research for the treatment of children with heart defects and provides support for the children and their families.

The unit sees 10,000 children a year from Yorkshire and the north Midlands, more then 300 of whom need heart surgery.