Newry student ​Róise McQuaid confronts fear of heights for charity which supported Daniel Greer

“I wanted to help others like him have the chance to spend more time with their loved ones,” says Róise, 21, who is from Newry. She’s become a volunteer with blood cancer charity DKMS – which helped support Daniel during his search for a stem cell transplant match -- but she hasn’t stopped at helping at events to sign more people up onto DKMS’ register of potential stem cell donors.

In fact, Róise will be doing a fundraising skydive on 10 August in aid of DKMS …..despite a deep, lifelong fear of heights!

“I don’t even like going on ‘up’ escalators,” confesses Róise, who combines business studies at Ulster University with an apprenticeship at PwC in Belfast.

“I’ve been very scared of heights, but I’ve been trying to get over my fear and work my way up slowly, because I really want to ‘Do it For Daniel’.

“I was in Canada recently, where I made myself go on the Sasquatch – the biggest zipline ride in the US and Canada. I was really nervous, but I found that once you get to a certain level you can’t even tell what height you’re at, so hopefully I’m ready now for my skydive. At least I’ll be strapped to someone!”

Róise is aiming to do her skydive in Coleraine. She has set herself a fundraising target of £450 and has her own fundraising page on the DKMS website (https://dkms.enthuse.com/pf/roise-mcquaid), but would love to beat that target.

She says: "Even the smallest donation can make the biggest difference. When someone needs an uncommon type of stem cell transplant it’s that one new person signing up who could potentially save their life. That’s why this fundraiser to facilitate more potential donors is so important."

DKMS spokesperson Deborah Hyde says: “We’re so grateful to all our volunteers and fundraisers, but Róise is a real high-flyer!

"Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer, and many of them will need a stem cell transplant. It costs us £40 to sign a single person up to the stem cell register, so Róise’s leap into the unknown will help us offer hope to more people with blood cancers and blood disorders.”

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