Gary completes 15,000ft skydive for Kidneys for Life
July 22nd 2022
Congratulations and well done to Asda colleague Gary Holmes who bravely completed a skydive from 15,000ft to support Kidneys for Life charity.
The charity is close to Gary’s heart, after his wife of 32 years, Julie, was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and her kidney function gradually deteriorated to just 12%.
Gary stepped forward to see if he could donate a kidney to Julie, but unfortunately, he wasn’t a match. He was asked however, if he’d be interested in donating to the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme and their lives changed overnight in October 2020 when they received a call to say they’d both been matched.
In January 2021, Gary donated a kidney to someone, and Julie received a kidney. All the couple know is Gary’s kidney was donated to a lady in her 60s, and Julie received a kidney from a lady in her 40s.
To continue raising awareness and funds for the Kidneys for Life charity based at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (where the couple had their operations), Gary did a skydive last July from 11,000ft to raise funds and awareness. This year, he wanted to push himself even further out of his comfort zone by jumping from 15,000ft!
Not only did Gary complete his epic challenge, but he more than doubled his fundraising target with a donation of £300 from Asda Foundation’s Colleague Match Funding scheme.
Gary said: “I can’t quite believe I did it from 15,000ft, or 3 miles up!! It was a bit high as I exited the plane but the freefall at 120mph for 60 seconds was awesome and then the glide down to a safe landing even better, it’s another world up there with amazing views!
Between the 5 of us (friends of over 20 years) we raised over £3,500 which will make a big difference for such a small charity, Kidneys for Life.
Huge thanks to the Asda Foundation for providing a Colleague Match Funding donation of £300 to boost my fundraising for this amazing charity which means so much to me.”
What an amazing accomplishment, well done Gary!
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