Dewsbury daredevil duo to help boy, 3, diagnosed with life-shortening brain disease

Sharon Hudson, 47, who works as a manager at Ashworth Grange Care Home, Dewsbury, along with her colleague Caroline Williams, 47, will be skydiving to raise cash for Eli Newsome, 3, who was recently diagnosed with Leukodystrophy.

Eli’s mum Heather Bond, 30, from Liversedge, was given the news about her son’s rare progressive disease six weeks ago, which she said has already effected his ability to walk.

Ms Bond said: “Eli’s coordination along with his walking have been massively affected.

“Up until six weeks ago, he was absolutely fine, but now he needs constant monitoring.

“I had never even heard of this disease before - and I’ve been told as it progresses, Eli could lose his sight.”

Leukodystrophy is caused by a specific gene abnormality that leads to abnormal development or destruction of the white cells within the brain.

“I was distraught when I found out about Eli’s condition,” said Ms Bond.

“But my manager Sharon contacted me to tell me she will be skydiving to raise money for me to take Eli away while he’s still able.”

Ms Hudson is no novice to skydiving having made the jump before to raise funds for Dementia UK.

The care manager said she was motivated to help after seeing how ‘devastated’ her colleague and friend was after being given the news about Eli’s shortened life expectancy.

She said: “It was devastating news, and I’m a mother myself so we want to support her with.

“We want to help Heather make memories with Eli while she can.

“To start with we only set a target of £1,000, but because of the generosity of the public we’ve raised double that.

“We hope to raise as much as possible for Heather’s weekend getaways with Eli, and so she can afford specialised equipment for him going forward.”

Ms Hudson and Ms Williams will be doing the skydive at Grindale on September 5.

To donate visit: here.