Ben White’s tragic accident and resulting injury left him wheelchair bound, and having to adapt his life around this fact (see Ben White’s Story part 1). After a call for assistance the skydiving community stepped up, showing that we truly are a fantastic closely-bonding family…
A pinnacle evening was Ben’s charity tunnel night, which was proposed and offered by Paul Mayer, opening the event for a small registration fee to fly in a tunnel scrambles or freefly groups, led by some of the finest coaches. Nearly 200 skydivers were involved and photos were provided by the awesome Rob Lloyd.
##Harness
Paul and the Bodyflight crew even made a prototype harness for Ben that day which allowed him to re-enter the tunnel and fly once again, and as expected, Ben was flying the harness within seconds. By the end of the sessions, he was flying with partner and former team mate Jen and Emma, carving, slide-sliding all under the watchful eye of Ged Parker who was begging him to slow down and take it easy, but as always with Ben, he was unbelievably keen to progress.
##Scrambles
16 teams of flat flyers made up the scrambles and 5 groups of free flyers containing 6-8 flyers each enjoyed an evening of tunnel flying of all levels, then leading to an evening in the bar where all takings were being given to the charity pot kindly by Paul. The raffle was organised by Roy Castleman and partner Emma, with the plethora of prizes donated from skydivers like Dan BC with a day’s coaching in Perris, coaching from some of the UK’s best, while manufacturers donated discount vouchers and products, like NZ Aerosports, Parasport and Vigil.
##Auction
Following this, the evening included a live auction led by me, with a quick-fire sale of Paul’s clothing range of Boogieman t-shirts to freefly pants plus a wide selection of donated gifts worth thousands, which included another contribution from Fletchy Fletch of a hand made BBQ which sold for £1400 alone. The auction also included the addition of 6 last minute prize donations by HRH the Crown Prince of Dubai, including 10 coached jumps at The Palm and The Desert Campus DZs from some of the best skydivers in the world, all filmed and photoed by the world-famous photographer Juan Mayer, basically doubling their value.
##£11,000
The final total of funds raised in that one evening was £11,000, all thanks to those giving their resources. People ask me ‘why do skydivers do this so well? it’s not like people don’t get injured in other sports!’ It’s something along the lines that we are a unique mix of amazing different people that share a love of jumping out of planes and creating something special in the skies together. We are connected around the world by this one love. If it was us, injured and down, we’d want to know the skydiving community would look out for us! We’ve seen what we are capable of, time and time again, we all come together and shock the world by how amazing we really are.
##Jen’s Story
“Ben and I don’t get out much, and I mean literally, we’ve barely left the house in two months since he came home from rehab. Not complaining but it’s pretty fair to say Ben and I were forgetting how to have fun together. Every day just seemed like an endless amount of challenges and chores. Ben was starting to get drawn in to the misery his injuries can create and I have been so busy being a carer, housekeeper, project manager, fundraiser, Ben’s PR machine & secretary that there’s been little time for anything as crazy and out there as ‘fun’.”
Exhaustion and the tears were invading most days and things were starting to feel a little bit difficult
“The exhaustion and the tears were invading most days and things were starting to feel a little bit difficult. We weren’t taking time to enjoy the little moments together; we just getting lost in feeling overwhelmed. Or at least I was, I think Ben’s much better at handling all of this than me, but you get the idea, we weren’t in a great place.”
“The highlight of the night was getting Ben back in the wind tunnel! Thanks to some creativity, ingenuity and determination, a moulded fiberglass strap on support was created to keep Ben’s legs in one position so the parts of him he can’t control would remain stable in the wind. Then all it needed was Ben’s willingness to give it a go – and was he willing!! He didn’t let it worry him that he had to be put onto a creeper to get into the tunnel, or that 4 people had to lift him or that at first he had to be held onto…. all that he cared about was giving it a try, to see if he could do it and to feel the wind on his body again.”
He gained a freedom in the wind that his wheelchair hadn’t yet been able to give him – his body went where his mind told it – Ben was in control and he was flying.
“What Paul and Bodyflight did for Ben was to find a way to give him his passion back. He and I couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces. Not only was Ben flying again but he was totally consumed by the moment; he wasn’t thinking about what he couldn’t do, or what had been taken away from him, but instead he was focusing on what he could do, how he could adapt his movements to allow him to go where his mind wanted. He gained a freedom in the wind that his wheelchair hasn’t yet been able to give – his body went where his mind told it, Ben was in control and he was flying.
“We got to play together, we got to forget how shit life is right now and we got to fly in the wind and to have some real fun. I couldn’t stop smiling. I looked at Ben again, not as someone I needed to do everything for but with real pleasure and happiness; I looked at him again as my boyfriend. That smile, that amazing carefree sparkling smile was back.
“There is nothing better for the mind, heart and the soul then having many of your friends around you, supporting you and cheering you on, while finding a way to give you something back you thought you’d lost. So Ben and I are flying high right now and we just want to say thank you so much, you don’t know just how much you have done for us and we can’t wait until next time.”
Ben is in need of funds to convert his house so he can be as independent as possible, you can donate here
