Wanting to do something in Simon’s memory and support others affected by brain tumours, Jeremy took on a challenge well outside his comfort zone…..a 10,000-foot skydive, alongside his daughters Charlotte and Emily and Charlotte’s boyfriend Tom.

After a cancelled first attempt and a nervous wait for the clouds to clear, the team finally took to the skies on Friday 24 July 2026, at Skydive Tilstock, raising an incredible £2,129 for brainstrust.

Here, Jeremy shares how he overcame his fear of heights, took the leap and carried Simon with him along the way.

“In March 2024, my brother, Simon Gibbs became poorly. Following a biopsy, he was found to have an aggressive brain tumour (Glioblastoma). The tumour was treatable but not curable. Simon passed away on 10th of April 2024, aged 56, leaving his wife Nicky and three children, Amber, George & Fred.

Simon was a big personality, the life and soul of the party and was very popular. Since losing Simon, we’ve grown closer as a family and his eldest daughter Amber has since had twin baby girls, Sofia & Sienna, who recently turned one years old.

We started to support brainstrust as we knew that they did a lot to support people living with a brain tumour diagnosis. We bought the charity Christmas cards and t-shirts.

In Spring 2026 I decided to do a sponsored Skydive, to help raise much needed funds for brainstrust. Our team consisted of myself, my two daughters, Charlotte & Emily, and Charlotte’s boyfriend Tom.  Our first date for the skydive was cancelled the day before due to ‘low cloud’ which was hugely disappointing. Thankfully, our second date was more successful.

We did the skydive at Skydive Tilstock. Emily and I were scheduled to jump first and then Charlotte and Tom. We had to watch a training video and practice landing and then we got fitted into our skydiving gear. We were just about to board the plane and then it was postponed again due to cloud cover. Thankfully, the cloud cleared an hour later, and we were able to do our jump.

I’ve always been scared of heights and just going up the ladders to clear the guttering fills me with dread. However, we had raised £2,129 on JustGiving for brainstrust and I was so hyped up about it that I was genuinely excited. The instructors at Skydive Tilstock were amazing and I felt that I could completely put my trust in them.

The plane was tiny and we were sat on the floor, strapped to our instructor. When I asked Ben, my instructor, how many jumps he’d done he joking said ‘well, I’ve watched a few YouTube videos this week, so we should be ok’. He’d actually done 3,500 jumps!

When we got above the clouds, it was beautiful and we could see for miles. At 10,000 feet we got the final go-ahead to jump. Whilst I was very scared, I thought about Simon and knew that he was with me in spirit (although he was scared of flying and would certainly never have done a Skydive!).  The freefall was amazing and I forgot about how high we were. After the parachute opened, Ben did a couple of spins which was fun until I remembered I suffered from motion sickness and suddenly felt a bit queasy.

Once we landed, we got to see Charlotte and Tom do their jump, which was even more nerve wracking. I think my wife, Rachel, was very glad to get us all back on terra firma!

All in all, it was a brilliant experience, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. I’m so grateful to everyone who sponsored us and really happy that we were able to raise so much money for brainstrust.”

A huge thank you to Jeremy, Charlotte, Emily and Tom for their wonderful support of brainstrust, and for the bravery they showed in loving memory of Simon.

Feeling inspired to organise your own fundraising event?  We’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with the team at fundraising@brainstrust.org.uk, we’ll support you every step of the way.