Charity Skydive for 10-year-old with rare blood disease

A former Royal Marine from Wiltshire will take on a charity skydive to raise money for seven charities that supported his 10-year-old daughter after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disease.

49-year old Matt Hughes is operations director at Salisbury-based Landmarc Support Services, will face the jump at Netheravon Airfield on August 9 alongside four fellow directors of the company based at Westdown Camp near Tilshead. 

Matt’s daughter, Megan, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia towards the end of last year. Since then, the brave schoolgirl has undergone a bone marrow transplant and an intensive course of chemotherapy.

Now, Matt and his wife Jess are not only hoping to raise money for the charities that are helping them through the tough time, but they are also calling for people to donate blood and join the stem cell register.

Father-of-two Matt explained, “Shortly after Megan’s 10th birthday we noticed bruising on her legs. Assuming this was normal rough and tumble at school, we thought nothing of it, however the bruises kept appearing and within two days were all over her body. 

“After a trip to the specialist and weeks of exhaustive testing, she was finally diagnosed with aplastic anaemia.

“It was a devastating diagnosis, and there was no treatment available which could reverse the failed bone marrow. Her only option was a full bone marrow transplant.

“Megan endured weekly blood and platelet transfusions while we waited for a suitable donor match, with the situation becoming increasingly desperate.

“Just before Christmas, we were given a glimmer of hope when a donor was identified in Germany and a recovery pathway finally became available. It still wasn’t easy, as the availability of bone marrow transport (BMT) wards is very low, so we had to wait our turn. 

“It meant long spells in hospital, including over Christmas and a blue light emergency ambulance trip in January. By this point our little girl was very ill.”

In March this year, Megan underwent an intensive nine days of chemotherapy before finally undergoing the two-day long process of the bone marrow transplant.

She remained in the isolation ward for five weeks, followed by a further six weeks in the family isolation accommodation before being allowed home.

To donate to the fundraiser on GiveWheel and see the various charities you would be helping, visit: https://tinyurl.com/yc7tcf86

Matt said, “Megan has been amazing throughout. She won’t be able to return to school until next March and she is currently on around 750 different medication doses a month.

“She really misses her school friends, so recently she attended her brother Jack’s Sports Day to sit in the distance. Jack has been so brave throughout all of this too and he is only seven.

“Megan has got a long way to go and will need to isolate at home for the next nine to ten months – but she’s home and we couldn’t ask for more.”

Aplastic anaemia is a rare and serious disease in which the bone marrow does not produce an adequate number of new blood cells. This causes tiredness, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, unexplained bruising, nose bleeds, headache and fever.

Matt, who has worked at Landmarc for just over three years, was previously in the Royal Marines for 27 years.

He added, “Landmarc has been amazing throughout this, they came up with the idea to do the skydive to raise as much money as possible for the charities.

“Anything that you go through in your career pales in significance to having to watch your little girl go through this.

“Megan has a brilliant sense of humour and has maintained a positive outlook throughout.

“If anyone can donate to the fundraising, then please do, however, if anyone could donate blood and platelets and register on the Anthony Nolan Foundation to register stem cells then that would be amazing.”

Matt will take on the sky dive alongside Landmarc colleagues Jo Potts, finance director, Danny Pilgrim, commercial director, Dan Webb, engineering and assurance director and Kirsty Pearce, business services director.

Jo Potts, who helped organise the skydive, said, “As a team, we wanted to do something to help Matt, so we came up with the idea of doing a skydive to raise money for the many charities who have supported Matt and his family throughout Megan’s treatment. 

“Even though some of us are slightly terrified, on August 9 we will be heading to Netheravon Airfield to do the jump and hope to raise as much money as we can.”

To donate to the fundraiser visit: https://tinyurl.com/yc7tcf86