Weronika pushing aside fear of heights to jump from plane

Weronica Golonka doesn’t have a head for heights, but the young health care worker is putting her fears to one side in order to jump from thousands of feet above the sky into a field in County Offaly.

“I’m actually deadly afraid of heights!” says Weronika, who is undertaking the adventure with her friend and co-worker Charlotte Dempsey.

Weronika, who lives in Ballinderry, Mullingar, and Charlotte, who lives in Rhode, both work for Platinum Homecare in Mullingar, a new homecare company in Ireland.

The two have been in touch with the Irish Parachute Club in Clonbullogue and have resolved to each do a tandem jump, from a plane as high as 13,000 feet up.

“Since we’re both working in healthcare, and most of our clients all have dementia or Alzheimer’s, we thought the Alzheimer’s Society was the best charity to do it for,” says Weronika.

“We don’t have a date just yet, since we want to raise the funds for charity, but we are aiming for the end of June or the start of July.

“We’ll have to go down the week beforehand for training, so we won’t be completely clueless going into it!

The two have a GoFundMe appeal, and sponsorship cards, and Weronika is thrilled that teachers at her old school, Mullingar Community College, have rowed in behind the effort as well and are helping with the fundraising effort by organising a no uniform day.

Platinum Homecare are also supporting the two women in their bid to raise funds and Weronika stresses that she and Charlotte are paying for the jump themselves and any funds raised will go to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Weronika loves caring for those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Her work involves helping them with daily activities and with being able to remain on living in their own home. The two conditions are both challenging and can be demanding on those caring for them, some of whom may be family members, others of whom would be live-in professional carers, she says.