A TEENAGER will leap out of a plane to help the hospital that repeatedly saved her life.

Darlington girl Abbie Hodgson, 16, will strap herself to her grandfather and plummet miles towards the earth when she takes her first tandem skydive in July.

Miss Hodgson, from Stapleton near Darlington, signed up to the nerve-wracking challenge to raise money for the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where she was treated for a rare heart disease as a child.

Born with the serious heart condition Transposition of the Greater Arteries, Abbie had to endure countless operations at the hospital as a result, including one performed when she was just 24 hours old.

Treatment for the rare condition, which causes the arteries of the heart to be reversed, was offered by the Freeman Hospital’s Paediatric Cardiothoracic Unit.

The Children’s Heart Unit Fund charity are now attempting to raise money to extend the unit to include a Home from Home section which would provide a flat and en-suite bedrooms for the families of children who have undergone a heart transplant.

Miss Hodgson, who said she was both nervous and excited about the skydive, said: “I am doing this for the hospital because they have done so much for me over the years and helped so many other people.

“Without their support I would be in a very different position and I just want to give something back.”

To sponsor Abbie, visit justgiving.com/Abbie-Hodgson.