Preston schoolgirl Kenzie Fitzer has defied expectation since the day she was born and now she’s just turned 16, her determination to live her life without limits is taking her to new heights!
For next month (Sunday, 30th April), Kenzie, who was born with an extra chromosome to make her a person with Downs Syndrome, will leap out of a plane at 10,000ft for her debut tandem skydive.
Kenzie, a pupil at Lostock Hall’s Applebee Wood School, is parachuting to raise funds for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s mums and babies charity Baby Beat. Kenzie said: “When I was born, I had to spend some time in the special care baby unit at the Royal Preston Hospital.
“They looked after me and my family extremely well though because I was genetically blessed, my mum was sat down and prepared for the worst. She was told about all the things I may not be able to do from walking and talking to bigger things. She told my wonderful consultant ‘I beg to differ’ and I have done everything I can in my life to agree with her point!”
Kenzie continued: “So I am jumping out of a plane for a wonderful charity that helps many people born like me and unlike me! My nephew Benji was born last August at 33 weeks to my brother Nathan and his partner Charlotte. Benji weighed just 4lbs 4oz so he had to spend time in NICU – the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – at the Royal Preston.”
Kenzie, who has ambitions to be an actor when she leaves school and attends Kirkham’s Melting Pot Theatre Workshop, is hoping her skydive will raise £1,000 for Baby Beat and to help, mum Donna has set up a Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/page/kenzie-fitzer-1677331795318
As for the jump itself, it was dad Jeff’s birthday gift to Kenzie on the day she turned 16 – the minimum permitted age for a tandem skydive – on 6th March. Kenzie said: “I have wanted to parachute ever since I saw people do it in a film when I was 11. Every month, I would ask my mum when I could jump but mum is scared of heights. My dad pretty much lets me do whatever I want. I am an adrenaline junkie, which scares my mum but dad never says no! I want to swim with sharks next.”