Meningitis charity urges people to get behind brave Melton skydiver

Melton man Connor Clark is doing a skydive for the charity Meningitis Now in memory of his baby daughter, Ruby, who died on February 19, 2012 at just eight days old after contracting Meningitis EMN-160615-092524001

Connor Clark (21), who lost his daughter, Ruby, in February 2012, will take on the challenge for Meningitis Now on June 25.

He said: “The charity is fantastic. They fund research and give valuable support to people like me who’ve lost someone they love to meningitis.

“I’m paying for the dive myself as I want all the money to go to the charity. I just want to do something that may help other parents not having to go through what I have.”

By his own admission Connor said he ‘ended up slowly going off the rails’ and ‘was in a very dark place’ as he struggled to deal with the emotions surrounding Ruby’s death.

The following years were difficult but Connor managed to get and then hold down a part-time job at Kettleby Foods and another working for a local window cleaner. Employment helped but in his free time he turned to substances to block out his emotions.

But last April Connor became aware of Me And My Learning - a project in Melton that aims to help people move on and achieve their goals.

Since then he said he’d been able to stop doing the things that were making him unwell and focus on building a future for himself.

Leah Wynn, community fundraiser at Meningitis Now, said: “We’re so grateful to Connor and everyone supporting him. We get no Government funding so rely entirely on the generosity of supporters to raise the vital funds we need.

“Connor’s challenge will make a real difference to those at risk from meningitis and those whose lives have been changed forever because of it.”

To sponsor him visit https://www.justgiving.com/Connor-Clark1/