A grandmother has fulfilled a promise to her stillborn granddaughter by jumping out of a helicopter to raise money to buy a cold cot.

Vicky Smart, of Laburnum Place in Sittingbourne, needed to raise at least £2,050 to pay for the equipment which allows families to spend longer with their lost little one buy keeping a baby’s body at 4C.

Her family used a cold cot after Miss Smart’s first granddaughter, Isabella-Rose, was stillborn last July. That is when she decided to pledged to raise the money needed before her first birthday.

Miss Smart and friend Kerry Parnell have so far managed to raise more than £3,200.

The new unit was presented to St Thomas’ Hospital in London last month on Friday, May 17, and there are hopes that if enough is raised there could be a second one on the way.

On Saturday, June 22, the pair jumped out of a helicopter to raise the funds.

Miss Smart said: “It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

“I was completely buzzing right up until getting into the plane, then the emotional side kicked in on the plane of what we were doing it all for.

“The first 48 seconds of free fall, when you come out of the plane, were the scariest I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“I was just thinking of the reason why I was doing it and then there weren’t any nerves in me at all.

“We raised the money we needed for the cold cot within the first seven weeks of the JustGiving page going live.”

The equipment offers bereaved parents the chance to be with their child for as long as possible.

The hope is that there may be enough cash to fund a second cold cot unit but if not, all money will go to Abigail’s Footsteps.

It will then be used to pay for grief training for midwives, memory cards and other equipment for mothers and parents whose children have died.

She added: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s donated and sponsored us.

“It means the world to me that I’ve been able to do it and achieve what I promised before her first birthday on July 16.”

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