A BRAIN tumour patient has been given the go-ahead to jump 10,000ft from of a plane to raise money for fellow sufferers.

Carmen Rickard, 42, from Hoddlesden, has lost the sight in her right eye because of the benign tumour, and now faces losing the sight in her left.

She had a gruelling eight-hour operation to remove part of the tumour two years ago, but it has grown back.

In December she completed six weeks of radiotherapy at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, and is waiting to hear whether it has been successful in shrinking the growth.

She said: “I was looking at undergoing cyber knife surgery in America, which would have meant raising something like £100,000.

“But the neurosurgeon decided that it wouldn’t be beneficial to me.

“So I’ve gone for radiotherapy, but I don’t yet know how it’s gone.

"It takes three months to show up anything in the scans, then we can look at the options.”

After initial doubt on whether her condition would make it more dangerous to take part in the fundraiser for Brain Tumour UK, she has been given the green light by her consultant.

Now she and Training 2000 colleague Jonny Smith, 22, will take on the challenge on March 20 at Blackley airfield, near Oxford.

Carmen, who works as a business support officer, said: “I must be mad, but it’s really important to support Brain Tumour UK because they do a lot of great work.

“Me and Jonny are both joking about it, saying that we’ll push each other out of the plane.

“We’re both going to do it in tandem with an instructor, though. I don’t think we’d survive otherwise!”

Carmen says she wants to raise ‘as much as possible’ for the dive, and is hoping to be backed by her employer, Training 2000, based in Blackburn.

To sponsor Carmen and Jonny in their skydive, visit www.justgiving.com/Carmen-Jonny.