Swansea student takes to the skies in memory of her mum

A Swansea student is hoping for fine weather in a month’s time, so she can take to the skies in a charity challenge to raise money for life saving research in memory of her mum.

Kasey Turner 18, from Dunvant, is currently working as a bar tender and hopes to become a police officer. She’s planning to take part in a skydive on Saturday 9th October to raise much needed funds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Kasey has already smashed her initial fundraising target of £750, raising over £1,160 on her JustGiving page.

She said: “Each day closer to the jump is getting more and more exciting and I’m so incredibly grateful to be able to do this. Everyone’s donations mean the world to me, and I would never be able to do it without all the generous people. I hope that my mum is proud of me for doing this and raising awareness. Thank you to everyone who has donated and shown me support in this!”

Kasey and her sisters Cerys 21, and Cora 10, tragically lost their mum two years ago. Kelly Devlin was just 39 years old when she sadly passed away after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Turkey. Kasey has decided to set herself the daunting challenge of a sponsored skydive raising money to fund research into heart and circulatory conditions.

Kasey explained: “I’ve never done anything like this before, but I really wanted to think of something that would be a challenge and I loved the idea of a skydive in memory of my mum. It’s a bit scary but

I’m determined to do it. I want to fundraise for the BHF because of the research they do into heart attacks. I do not want other people to face losing someone the same way I did. The money raised through my skydive will go towards helping the BHF save lives.”

Her dad Lawrence said the whole family is incredibly proud of Kasey for taking on this challenge and fundraising in aid of the BHF: “It’s been a traumatic time for Kasey and her sisters over the last few years, losing their mum so young,” he said

“She’s always been very determined and keen to help other people, so it’s wonderful to see that she’s been able to do so much good, raising money to help fund research which will hopefully help save lives in the future.”

Kasey’s efforts come at a critical time for the BHF – the largest independent funder of research into heart and circulatory diseases in Wales and the UK. The last year has been the hardest in the charity’s 60-year history. The Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on its income and as a result, research funding had to be cut in half, putting future life-saving discoveries at risk.

Heart and circulatory diseases cause one in four of all deaths in Wales, around 9,300 deaths each year – an average of 26 people each day, and around 340,000 people are living with heart and circulatory disease in Wales.

Adam Fletcher, Head of BHF Cymru, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Kasey for choosing to fundraise for us after the sad loss of her mum. Our research to help save and improve lives is only made possible thanks to our courageous supporters like Kasey. We need the public’s support now more than ever as the BHF marks its 60th anniversary.

“Cutting research funding will impact the development of new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating heart and circulatory diseases and we cannot allow the progress we have made over the last 60 years to slow down. We’re so grateful to Kasey for fundraising for us in our 60th year and for helping us beat heartbreak forever.”

Kasey’s fundraiser can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kasey-turner2

For more about the work of the BHF and how you can help support its 60th anniversary visit https://www.bhf.org.uk/birthday