‘I’ll take a 15,000ft plunge for my boyfriend’

And that is exactly what Doncaster policewoman Hannah Cox is doing for her boyfriend Scott Robertson after he was forbidden by doctors from doing a parachute jump for a medical charity that helped him get through treatment for a tumour.

Scott, from Armthorpe, was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour at the age of 14, and has had a string of operations for the condition since then. And in 2017 he went through radiotherapy at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield to prevent it from growing.

During that time he was driven from his home to the hospital and back each day by the Firefly bus, which helps cancer patients in Doncaster while the are being treated at Weston Park.

Since then he has run a series of fundraising activities for the charity, raising thousands of pounds.

He decided he wanted to do a parachute jump, and told Hannah he was going to check with his doctors if that was all right. She told him if he couldn’t do it, she would do it for him.

“Hannah was with me when the doctor said no, and in no uncertain terms,” said 31-year-old Scott, who works in insurance for Close Brothers at Lakeside. “She may say she’s not scared of heights, but there is a difference between say, a 10m diving board and 15,000ft in an aeroplane.

“I think my heart will be in my mouth when she does it because I think she’ll be terrified, but I’ll be so proud of her.”

Hannah, aged 26, said: “Scott really wanted to do the parachute jump so I said I’d do it if he couldn’t. The surgeon said the changing pressure would be an issue for him. When I found out Scott couldn’t do it I was shocked, but when I thought about it, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I should have thought it through! I’m coming to terms with the idea very quickly.

“I’m pretty scared, but I don’t regret making the offer. It’s a tandem jump, so I’ll do it tied to an expert. I’m not scared of heights, but I think they’ll probably have to push me out!”

Log onto https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HannahCoxSkydive to donate.

Scott’s condition

Scott suffers from a craniopharyngioma – a tumour found at the base of the brain close to the pituitary gland.

He has had three operations but the full tumour has not been removed as the operation would risk brain damage and causing blindness. Instead he takes medication to control the symptoms, and as a

result does not feel any ill-effects.

His first operations saw doctors go into his skull to remove some of the tumour, and took him weeks to get over.

But his most recent surgery, in 2014, saw him become the first patient to have a new treatment, which saw doctors use a special probe inserted through his nose to carry out surgery.

He was out of hospital on the same day of the operation.

His radiotherapy in 2017 was designed to stop the tumour growing, and is expected to mean he does not need any more operations for 10 to 15 years.

He said: “I was diagnosed after I started to have severe headaches after I’d started secondary school. At first we thought it was the stress of changing school.

“Also, in primary school, I had been one of the tallest in the class, but I seemed to have stopped growing at secondary school. I was diagnosed in 2002 and had my first operation that year.

“It means I can’t drive because of the effect it has on my vision, but I’m not unwell and I don’t look unwell.”