Blind woman 'nervous but excited' about skydive

A blind woman doing a skydive to raise money for charity says she is "nervous but excited" - and expects her guide dog to be excited too.

Louann Kent is doing the tandem skydive to raise money for Guide Dogs, which partnered her with Ugo the golden retriever back in 2017.

Mrs Kent, who is from Derby, said Ugo had transformed her life and enabled her to do things independently.

Ugo will not be accompanying her on the tandem skydive on Saturday, but will be waiting on the ground for her to land.

"I think he'll be excited but he just gets excited about everything," she said.

"He'll just start wagging his tail and wonder what's going on."

Louann, who lives in Chaddesden, was born with high myopia and wore glasses and contact lenses from a young age.

As she got older she had complications from the myopia, and her sight started to deteriorate while she was pregnant with her second child in 2004.

She said losing her sight while looking after two young children was difficult.

"It was quite frustrating really," she said.

"I used to have to pick my children up from nursery and I couldn't see in the dark.

"I can always remember walking back and trying to avoid all the bushes. There were lots of difficult times."

By the time her third child was born in 2012 she had completely lost her sight.

Louann decided to get a guide dog so she could take her son to school independently, and she was partnered with Ugo in 2017.

"I can always remember the day I did it all on my own and the feeling was amazing, to be able to take him to school, drop him off and come home on my own," she said.

"My heart was beating all the way, it was pounding out my chest, it was so scary. But that feeling of doing it, walking on your own, normally at a normal walking pace, it's amazing."

She described Ugo as "amazing" and "the most loving dog".

"Even now at the age of nine he still gets excited, and he's so loving, he follows me around everywhere at home," she said.

She decided to do the charity skydive after finding out about it in a Facebook post, and has already raised more than £1,000 through sponsorship.

Although she has always wanted to do a skydive, she is also apprehensive.

"I think it's more the fact that I can't see and I've got hearing loss as well, I'm thinking am I going to be communicating OK?" she said.

She is one of more than 100 people across the UK who are taking part in 12 different skydive events for Guide Dogs, which they have nicknamed Blind Panic.

Collectively they are hoping to raise £100,000.

Claire Robotham, a fundraising manager for Guide Dogs, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to Louann and all the volunteers taking part in the Blind Panic challenge, helping to raise vital funds for our organisation.

“As a charity we rely almost entirely on donations and fundraising, so every penny she raises will help make a difference to people living with sight loss."

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