Fundraising Fed member marks end of treatment with a skydive

25 October 2023

Suffolk Police Federation case handler Wendy Leah completed a tandem skydive to mark the end of her cancer treatment.

Wendy spoke of the exhilaration she felt as she jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft above the Suffolk countryside.

She said: “It was amazing. The first part of the jump when you are free-falling, it is very loud as the wind is rushing past your ears.

“Once you release the parachute, a silence descends and there is a calmness as you slowly glide downwards.”

Wendy decided to take on the jump after having rung the bell to mark the end of her breast cancer treatment and the hope of a cancer-free future.

“The words of Confucius were ringing in my ears,” she said. “We have two lives and the second one begins when we realise we only have one.

Suffolk Police Federation case handler Wendy Leah.

“The journey has been challenging, a seven-month physical and mental roller coaster ride of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy - but the ‘new normal’ life starts now.”

Wendy said she did not have time to get nervous about jumping out of the plane.

She explained: “I met a lady there who was jumping in memory of her sister who died of breast cancer the year before - and she was absolutely terrified.

“I was so busy looking after her that I forgot about my own nerves and went straight out of the plane without thinking about it.”

Wendy is sharing her story as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which runs through October.

She was diagnosed in November last year after attending a routine mammogram.

“I treated it so routinely, which I don’t think I’ll ever do again,” she said.

A week-and-a-half later she received a recall letter. 

“Four in 100 women get recalled for a mammogram of which, statistically, three will be fine and one will have cancer,” she said.

“I thought ‘okay I’m 75 per cent okay, that will be fine. I wasn’t too worried’.”

The following week she had two biopsies, another mammogram and an ultrasound.

“I met with the breast care nurse who explained to my husband and I, the procedures and the outcomes of the biopsies and the mammogram,” she said.

“After 30 years serving as a police officer, I consider myself a good reader of body language and when I saw her double gulp as she clicked on the mammogram pictures I knew this wasn’t going to be good.”

Wendy was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, stage one, grade two, and by mid-December she had already started her treatment on the Woolverstone Ward at Ipswich Hospital.

She had 12 weeks of weekly chemotherapy and three lots of three-weekly chemotherapy, which finished in April.

“I had a lumpectomy and three lymph nodes removed, which was a little sore,” explained Wendy.

“But I was very quickly back to my normal daily routine and exercising within days.

“It is a long journey and the treatment I received at Ipswich Hospital was platinum.

“Every single member of staff treated me with respect and kindness. They couldn’t have been more kind or helpful.”

Wendy has since taken part in fundraising to give back to the hospital.

She explained: “The ladies from the local sports club got together when I was diagnosed and started fundraising, which is quite overwhelming really.

“Two weeks after my surgery and my chemo and radiotherapy, I did a 26-mile power-walk marathon.

“We raised money through jumble sales and a bingo night.

“Altogether we raised around £9,000 for the Blossom Appeal, which is the charity that raises money for Ipswich Hospital’s new breast care unit, which I was lucky to benefit from.

“It was a way of giving back.”

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