Skydiving for the Cancer Society: Chief executive, nurse to jump out of plane to raise money for patients

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society chief executive Helen Carter.

Helen Carter is “petrified” as she prepares for her first skydive today.

However, she says the challenge in front of her is “nothing” compared to the one faced by cancer patients .

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society chief executive and Te Whatu Ora clinical nurse specialist Ellyn Proffit are skydiving in Tauranga for Jump for Cancer - a fundraising initiative for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty branch of the Cancer Society.

All money raised will help the Cancer Society provide free support services to people fighting cancer, including transport to and from treatment, accommodation close to the hospital, community nursing and meals.

Carter said she had never skydived before and was “extremely petrified”.

She recalled speaking to a cancer patient about her fears.

“And she [the patient] said, ‘Helen, I would just love to be able to jump because that would be something normal people do’.

Carter said she was skydiving because she felt “responsible for the sustainable future” of the Cancer Society in the region.

“Despite my extreme fears, [it] is nothing compared to what those that we serve go through when they fight the dragon of cancer.”

Carter had lost her father to cancer.

“So it’s a very personal cause to jump out of a plane to show that we’re standing in solidarity with those in our communities and their whānau with cancer.”

Carter said the Cancer Society relied on community support to operate as it did not receive any Government funding. It was always looking for initiatives and ways to raise money.

She said it had a “big ambition” to build a “wonderful [and] warm” accommodation facility in Tauranga.

It already had a lodge in Hamilton, which looked after cancer patients from the Waikato, Gisborne “and further afield”.

However, there was nowhere for its Bay of Plenty communities to stay when they received treatment, she said.

“Our guests report to us that they’ve never felt so warmly welcomed, so well looked after, and have an opportunity to feel normal again in an environment that’s totally supportive, so we just need to replicate that.”

Carter said her fundraising goal was $10,000 and she had raised $5000 so far.

Te Whatu Ora clinical nurse specialist Ellyn Proffit said her role involved looking after 12 to 24-year-olds with cancer in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes region and Tairāwhiti.

She volunteered for the Cancer Society’s Hamilton lodge and was also a board member.

“I just want to give back to the Cancer Society because they give so much - they bend over backwards for me to help me help my young people.

“Without the support of the Cancer Society, I honestly don’t know if some of my young people would still be around.”

Proffit said some young people did not have a driver’s licence or car and had to rely on others to drive them to treatment.

“So the Cancer Society just takes that burden off the young person, off the family.”

Proffit said she hoped to raise “as much as possible”.

For more information or to donate, visit the Jump for Cancer website.