A RETIRED gardener has swapped pruning for parachutes by taking on a 10,000ft skydive to mark her 70th birthday.

Bron Thurston decided she would celebrate her birthday in style by plummeting towards earth at 120mph after tumbling out of an aeroplane.

Ms Thurston, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, used her tandem skydive experience to raise funds for the LAM Action charity which provides support for women with rare lung disease, lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), that affects around seven people in every million.

The 70-year-old, who is mildly affected by LAM, completed her skydive at the Peterlee Skydive Academy, based at Shotton Airfield, near Durham.

After landing safely back on land, she said: “It was an incredible experience and I loved it.

“I wasn’t nervous, just so thrilled to get the go-ahead after a number of bad weather cancellations.

“I jumped in tandem with Mick, an experienced instructor who did a great job of looking after me.

"In the initial freefall, dropping at 120mph, I found it difficult to breathe and felt faint.

“When the chute was opened and we descended more gently I experienced a lovely feeling of freedom high above everything in miniature below, and could see along the North-East coast up to Scotland and down to Yorkshire."

Ms Thurston discovered she has the currently incurable LAM disease following a CT scan which also revealed she has a form of lymphoma – a cancer of the white blood cells.