23 February 2023
Skydiving for the Trust values
Ceri Connor explains a bit about her job, how the Trust cared for her mum when her mum was unwell, and why she is skydiving to raise money for us.
“I live in Christchurch with my husband, Justin, and two children, Abi and Maegan.
I’ve worked at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) since July 2021 as the Director of Organisational Development and Inclusion.
My day is always so varied! The main part of my job is collaborating with other people and connecting them together to get work done.
I provide both strategic and operational leadership to our organisation in order to make our hospital a great place to work. This work, in turn, improves recruitment and retention.
I am so proud of where I work and I am also thankful to UHS due to the recent treatment that my mum received at the hospital.
In 2021, Mum had been generally unwell for weeks. She went back and forth to the GP where she was diagnosed with an infection and put on a course of antibiotics.
Four weeks later, she was still unwell.
In the lead up to Christmas 2021 she started to get worse. She wasn’t able to eat, and was in a lot of pain in her tummy.
On Boxing Day, I called 111. They had a doctor visit mum at home and gave her a thorough examination. An ambulance was called, and mum was brought to the Emergency Department in Southampton.
Mum was really poorly with Sepsis, and doctors discovered a tear in her colon. This was caused by some gall stones that had gotten lodged in her bowel.
She spent nearly a month on ward E5. All the staff were amazing, and she is doing really well with no lasting effects.
I am so grateful to the team that cared for her. This year we had a much better Christmas and certainly made up for last year!
Taking on a skydive
This is why I have signed up to skydive from 10,000 feet for Southampton Hospitals Charity.
Doing a skydive has always been on my bucket list but I’ve never really had the opportunity or bravery to do it before!
This is definitely the next level of charity challenge from the walking marathons I have done before. When my colleagues started telling me about how they would be doing a skydive this March, I knew this was the best opportunity to be surrounded by friends while I took the plunge!
It feels extra special knowing that we are raising money for the hospital, and it truly means that I can thank our amazing staff for their hard work. I am in awe of everything they do every single day!”
If skydiving is on your bucket list, why not sign up today and raise money for us? There are places for our 2023-24 skydives.