A THORNBURY man has raised £600 by taking part in a 15,000 ft skydive to raise money for charity.

Steve Davey, 30, raised the money for Meningitis Research Foundation after he contracted the bacterial disease when he was nine years old. He lives with the after effects and chose to raise money to help the charity by skydiving, despite having a fear of heights.

He said: “I had been ill for about a week and if hadn’t been for my mum who told the doctor I had a stiff neck when he was about to leave then it may have been undetected. I spent 2 weeks in hospital which was the worst experience of my life by far. I had numerous injections and lumber punctures but was lucky enough to recover but little did we know about the after effects.

“When I went back to school I suffered from mood swings, was short tempered, had a terrible lack of concentration and found it really hard to learn. My mum said my personality completely changed. I still suffer from side effects such as headaches now and my key skills such as spelling writing and numeracy have been a real struggle which effects employment and day to day life.”

Mr Davey injured his ankle two years ago and put on weight, reaching 21 stone. The tandem skydive was an incentive to lose weight at the same time as raising money for a charity that funds research into a disease he was a sufferer of.

He added: “A big thank you to Lafarge Tarmac my employers who paid for me to do the tandem skydive which meant everything raised has gone straight to Meningitis Research Foundation so they can continue their vital work.”

The charity supports those affected with meningitis and septicaemia and raises awareness of the diseases.

Chris Head, Chief Executive of MRF, said: “We are extremely grateful to Steve for taking on this challenge and raising nearly £600 for Meningitis Research Foundation as we really do rely on voluntary donations to fund our vital work into the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia. Every penny raised through Steve’s parachute jump will make a huge difference and enable us to continue our work.”