Grateful dad of Beatrix Archbold skydives 15,000ft to mark year since daughter's heart transplant

Terry Archbold tackled the daunting jump at Peterlee to fundraise for the Sunderland-based Red Sky Foundation.

‘I’d much prefer staying inside the plane’

And he did it just over a year after his daughter Beatrix marked the first anniversary of getting a new heart.

Terry admitted: “Not gonna lie, I didn't want to do it, I'd much prefer staying inside the plane! Everyone who signed up is absolutely amazing.”

Terry and the other charity skydivers had hoped to do their fundraising in September but dreadful weather put paid to that.

£24,000 raised for charity

Instead, they jumped at the weekend and raised more than £24,000.

Terry added: “On behalf of all the parents of poorly children helped by Red Sky, a MASSIVE THANKS.”

He said plans were already being made for another jump in aid of Red Sky next year.

What a difference a year has made for little miracle Beatrix.

Feisty and full of life

The Wearside youngster, now three years old, left hospital this time last year after a heart transplant.

One year on, she is a ‘feisty’ little girl who is full of life , according to dad Terry and mum Cheryl, who is from Roker.

Beatrix's story first unfolded in May 2022. The Archbold family had returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida and thought Beatrix caught Covid.

Bea’s heart was not working properly

She had stopped drinking, had a rash on her neck and the family dialled 111.

After going to A&E, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead detected a heart murmur. Tests showed one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.

She had an operation to fit a line into her body so she could receive medication but she had a cardiac arrest and was saved by expert surgeons at the Freeman Hospital who performed open heart surgery.

Ten hour heart transplant last year

Beatrix spent months in hospital where she learned to walk and said her first words.

Last summer, she had a 10-hour operation and soon after, went home after spending 15 months attached to tubes at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Terry and Cheryl have never forgotten the importance of awareness of organ donations.

Now Beatrkx is home and making huge strides in her health.

Join the NHS Organ Donor Register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk