Mum’s skydive ‘thanks’ for miracle baby’s care

Chris,Ethan,Lilly and Emma Lee at home in Sidmouth. Photo by Terry Ife ref shs 2222-19-13TI To order your copy of this photograph go to www.sidmouthherald.co.uk and click on myphotos24 (Image: Archant)

Emma Lee, who is scared of heights, took the plunge to boost the unit that helped her ‘miracle’ first-born beat the odds when she arrive three months early.

Lilly (Image: Archant)

This week she gave a ‘huge thank-you’ to generous sponsors who helped her raise £511 with the skydive.

“It was an amazing experience, plummeting to the earth at 120 mph is a feeling I cannot describe, it took my breath away - literally!,” said Emma, of Manstone Avenue.

The 33-year-old had a ‘huge response’ to an article the Herald ran on her bid last month.

Kind well-wishers approached her in the supermarket and on the school run to pledge cash.

Little Lilly weighed just 1lb 11oz - and was so tiny she could be held in the palm of her dad Chris’s hand when she was born - and spent the first 12 weeks of her life in an incubator.

She is now a healthy four-year-old enjoying her first year of school – and Emma says it is all thanks to the team that cared for her at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

“She’s my little miracle,” said Emma, who is a cashier at the town’s branch of Santander.

“There were a few times we thought she wasn’t going to make it.

“I don’t like heights at all but I had to do it [the parachute jump] - I owe them so much.”

Emma wanted to raise cash to ensure mums and dads continue to receive the same sterling standard of care and support she did.

Her binman hubby Chris, 31, did the same jump last year.

Lilly, who was given a clean bill of health at two-and-a-half, has since been joined by little brother Ehtan, one.

The family and friends watched Emma take on the challenge.