Grantham man with multiple sclerosis to skydive at Langar Airfield for charity
A man who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) last year is doing a charity skydive.
Michael Parker, who has lived in Grantham for 13 years, will be doing a tandem skydive on Sunday, October 29, at Langar Airfield to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Since his diagnosis, Michael, 40, has also been sharing his MS journey on social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram.
Michael said: “I was in security for 20 years of my life and MS took that away from me.
“I can’t go to work because my MS symptoms are not good.
“When I first got diagnosed, the support [from the Multiple Sclerosis Society] was incredible.”
Michael has fundraised for them before.
When he saw they were appealing for people to do skydives to raise money for the charity, he straight away said “I want to do it”.
He added: “I have never wanted to do it, but MS has taken so much away from me, I wanted to do something to put two fingers up to MS.”
On the day of his skydive, Michael will receive training from instructors.
To prepare for the big day, Michael has been going to the gym as he has to keep his weight under 15 stone.
To mentally prepare, he said: “I have been telling myself what a skydive is and saying I am 10,000ft in the air.
“For the first 5,000ft it is free fall, then the other 5,000ft is with a parachute.”
When he was first told of his diagnosis by his doctor, Michael “broke down”.
He started to post videos on Facebook about his experience and his journey, and then his son suggested that he do a podcast.
Michael added: “I said I’m not that kind of person, but I signed up to a website that did it and it sort of blew up.”
For around a year, Michael has been releasing a podcast episode each week.
As time went on, Michael moved on to Instagram and TikTok, under the username mikes_ms_journey.
His TikTok account has allowed him to reach a following of other MS sufferers.
Michael is raising money for the MS Society on a JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/page/mikesmsjourney-thebigleap?utm_source=IG.
To find out more about Michael and his journey, follow him on TikTok and Instagram under the same handle at mikes_ms_journey.