Blind boy with brain tumour takes on skydive after raising £169,000 for charity

A blind teenager with a brain tumour who has raised more than £160,000 for a cancer charity is to take on a skydive as his final daring pursuit before “retiring and concentrating on GCSEs”.

Jack Thompson, 16, was diagnosed with a low grade glioma, a type of brain tumour, on his optic nerve when he was four months old, which left him registered blind.

He has since undergone seven rounds of chemotherapy, proton therapy and needs to have regular brain scans, and growth hormone injections every night.

Jack is taking on a skydive on July 20 (Elaine McKay/PA)

A scan two weeks ago revealed his tumour is stable and, despite his medical history, he has always remained positive and has raised £169,000 for charity Young Lives Vs Cancer since the age of seven.

“Sam Hughes from Young Lives Vs Cancer has just been absolutely wonderful and has really been behind all my fundraising efforts,” Jack, who lives in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, told the PA news agency.

“I have been really lucky to have had so many great opportunities because of the charity and so I want to give back to them so other children in similar situations to me have that too.”

Over the years, he has taken on various challenges, including the Mini North Run, and organised raffles and bake sales to raise money, with his latest pursuit – a skydive on July 20 at the SkyHigh Skydiving centre in Peterlee – his most daring to date.

I wanted to do a skydive to come up with a nice ending before stepping back and sort of retiring and concentrating on GCSEs

Jack Thompson

Explaining the story behind the adventurous idea, he said: “I started fundraising in Morrisons (in 2018) and Young Lives Vs Cancer was their chosen charity.

“I made a lot of friends in Morrisons because of my fundraising and I’ve visited 195 stores so far.

“So far, I’ve raised £169,000, including the money we’ve raised towards the skydive but the challenge is 200 for 200, so that’s £200,000 and 200 Morrisons stores and to celebrate that, I wanted to do something big.

“I wanted to do a skydive to come up with a nice ending before stepping back and sort of retiring and concentrating on GCSEs.”

Jack has raised money in Morrisons stores by booking a date with one of their community champions who gives him permission to do activities including a bucket collection or raffle.

He will be taking on the skydive with a manager at a Morrisons store in Doxford Park, his aunt Wendy and her friend Amy.

He said his family and friends’ first reaction to him doing a skydive was: “Oh wow, that’ll be great, you’ll smash it.”

Jack was diagnosed with a brain tumour on his optic nerve when he was four months old (Elaine McKay/PA)

“I’ve done a zipwire before, I absolutely love rollercoasters, so we’ve been stepping it up over the years,” he added.

He said he hopes to inspire others to challenge themselves, adding: “Nothing’s stopped me really and I’ve noticed when I go out and about, a lot of people do not necessarily realise what I’ve been through because I am so confident.”

He has raised close to £20,000 out of his £50,000 target for the skydive.

Pascale Harvie, president and general manager of JustGiving, said: “Jack is such an incredible person.

“At the age of 16 he has already raised a phenomenal amount of money for Young Lives Vs Cancer and his fundraising work is nothing short of remarkable.

“From everyone at JustGiving, we wish Jack the very best of luck in his charity skydive.”

Jack’s fundraising page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sam-hughes-1707841745519