Women jump for boss who is recovering from cancer

TWO hairdressers who completed a tandem skydive in Salisbury at the start of the month are already planning their next one.

Grace Lawrence and Nicki Walker, who work together at Intensions Hair Salon in Wood Lane, signed up for the challenge to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support after their boss, Mari Kernan, 51, was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer last October.

On Sunday, June 1, the pair woke up at 5.30am to drive to Salisbury where they boarded a light aircraft from which they completed the 10,000ft jump.

They were joined by friends and family, some of whom had travelled from as far as Birmingham, and celebrated afterwards with lunch and drinks.

Miss Lawrence, 27, who previously said she was “petrified” of heights, said she wants her next skydive to be even higher.

She said: “I loved every minute of it. We got to Salisbury at about 7am and it was pretty much all over by 9am.

“I just wasn’t that nervous. It was really weird because I don’t like flights but I think I might prefer little planes to big planes. Everything about it was so quick I didn’t really have time to think about it.”

Miss Lawrence said that they had shown the videos of the jump to their boss.

She said that Mrs Kernan, who underwent surgery to have a mastectomy and lumpectomy more than a month ago, is now in recovery and looking well.

She said: “She was a bit shocked that we actually did it, but she is proud because of the amount of money that we have raised for Macmillan.

“She came into the shop the other day and she is looking really well, all of her hair is coming back, her eyelashes, eyebrows.

“They’re triple-checking the lymph nodes just to make sure that it hasn’t spread anywhere but the first two tests have come back clean. Fingers crossed she is on the road to recovery.”

She said that Mrs Kernan’s positivity had helped her friends cope with the “shock” of hearing about her diagnosis. She said: “You’re trying just to keep positive but her mental attitude has been so amazing since she got diagnosed that it has helped everybody else.

“Mari is eternally grateful for Nicki stepping up from part-time as that’s one less worry for her to think about when she is off, so that’s taken some of the pressure off.”

Miss Walker, 41, said the experience was the “best thing she has ever done”. She said: “I was absolutely buzzing, even before just getting on the plane I was so excited and I absolutely loved it. The freefall was the best bit.

“I had been worried about it because I thought it would be like a weightless feeling, like when you’re on rides at a theme park and your stomach jumps into your throat once you get dropped, but it was nothing like that, it was so much better.”

She said that she was “overwhelmed” by the generosity and support from people in the village, who have now helped them to raise more than £4,000 for Macmillan.

She said: “It’s incredible, because when we booked it we had to raise £1,000 for the charity, we thought that is so much money and thought that whatever we got will pay the extra.

“Everyone is coming into the salon asking how we got on. Even if they haven’t got a hair appointment, they just pop in and ask how it was. They are amazing, the village has been so supportive.”