YOUNG Wellington woman Emily Summers is jumping from 15,000 feet in a parachute jump this weekend in aid of a charity that helped her at a difficult time in her life.

The 18-year-old former Court Fields School student, who is now at Exeter College studying interior design, will be jumping with her grandmother Jean Hore, 73, in aid of eating disorder charity Beat.

The pair, who live at Foxdown Hill, Wellington, will be jumping at Dunkeswell Airfield on Sunday and would like to raise £2,000.

Emily was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in 2011 and the eating disorder has turned her own and her family’s life upside down.

She said: “It has taken so many things away from me – instead of days with my friends I would be attending appointments, instead of nice family meals out it would be full of stress and anxiety.

“Instead of finishing school I was in an eating disorder inpatient unit two hours away from home for a year.

“Instead of remembering my teenage years for how most people do, I’ll be remembering them crying over meals and hating myself.”

Emily, whose grandmother has done three parachute jumps in the last few years, has wanted to do a skydive for years and was given weight and Body Mass Index targets to cope with the physical demands of the jump, which she used as motivation.

Emily added: “I’m no way near ‘recovered’ because anorexia isn’t a physical illness, weight is just a side-effect.

“It’s a mental health problem and even people like me at healthy weights struggle daily. But I’m getting better – I’m a healthy weight, I’m enjoying food more, I spend time with friends, I have good family meals out and, most importantly, I can see a life without anorexia.

“There are still bad days but everyone has them – what’s changed is there are more good days.”

Emily says she could not have tackled her condition without the support of her family, friends, hospital, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and Beat.

The skydive is a way of saying ‘thank you’ with all the money she and her grandmother raise through sponsorship going to Beat. The charity supports anyone with an eating disorder, their friends and family, as well as professionals working with individuals.

More than 725,000 people in the UK of all ages and backgrounds have a diagnosed eating disorder.

Anyone who would like to sponsor Emily and Jean can visit http://www.just

giving.com/Beat-skydive-emilysummers “If the money we raise can help change even one person’s life then all of this will be worth it.”