By Julianne Kuykendall Goldthwaite
Special to The Mountaineer
Nancy Stevens, 64, skydives after breast cancer diagnosis
Photo courtesy of Carolina Skydiving video: Nancy Stevens, a 64-year-old Waynesville resident, went skydiving, an item on her life’s “to do” list, three days before having breast cancer surgery on July 29. The skydiving adventure was a gift from her son, Bobby.
After 64-year-old Waynesville resident Nancy Stevens was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and was schedule for an immediate mastectomy on July 29, her son, Bobby Stevens, decided to do something extraordinary for his mother – something that had always been on her life’s “to do” list.
He would take her skydiving – only she had no idea of his plans.
“I called up my mother’s friend, Jenny Amatulli, who looked online and found that Carolina Skydiving, just above Hickory, was the closest place to go skydiving so, after a swipe of my Visa, it was done,” said Bobby, who only told his mother that he had something planned and to clear her calendar for the day of Sat. July 25, a mere three days before her surgery. When she anxiously pressed him for details, all he told her was that it was outside Asheville and to bring everything to wear – something casual and even her high heels and jewelry – not offering any clues to ruin the surprise.
“When we got 20 miles outside of Asheville,” began Nancy, “I finally looked at his GPS and saw it was 108 miles to the destination so I asked my son, ‘Are you taking me to the funny farm?’ Then, he finally pulled off the road and got the brochure out of his glove compartment. When I saw we were going skydiving, I was so thrilled and I started crying like a baby!”
Nancy had always wanted to go skydiving but things continually came up in life like a car would break down or her kids would need clothes and it never happened. “When the opportunity came, I was positively flabbergasted and I couldn’t believe my son remembered,” she said.
When they arrived at Carolina Skydiving, Nancy was surrounded by four 20-something-year-olds looking for adventure. “While I waited, the first girl landed and looked like she had seen the Holy Ghost, the second guy couldn’t walk straight, the third guy was vomiting and the fourth guy didn’t even get on the plane,” recalled Nancy. “After all that, Billy Ray, the instructor, said to me, ‘It’s your turn, Nancy – come over here and I’m going to hook you into the jumpsuit.’”
The videographer asked Nancy, “Are you ready?” She responded, “I’m ready as I’ll ever be” and hopped into the plane with Billy Ray. Once the plane was airborne, her son overheard the 20-somethings ask each other, “I wonder if that old lady is really going to jump?” “I just kept my mouth shut but I knew my mother and I knew she would jump,” said Bobby.
At 10,000 feet in the air after Billy Ray hooked Nancy onto him, he told her that, when the plane door opened, she would feel a sudden rush of air and that when he tapped her on the shoulder, that would be her cue to jump. “Billy Ray and I were sandwiched together and I mean everywhere,” said Nancy. “I hadn’t been that close to a man since my husband died four years ago and I was just glad that he couldn’t see the blood rush to my face!”
When Billy Ray tapped her shoulder, she jumped, without hesitation, from 10,000 feet in the air. “When I jumped, it was such a feeling of absolute ecstasy and euphoria and I felt the Lord inside me,” said Nancy, recalling free falling for 50 seconds before the parachute deployed, then spending another six minutes gliding to the earth below.
During the trip down, the owner of the company videoed the whole adventure with a video camera strapped to his head while gliding down with his own parachute.
“When we were gliding down, Billy Ray let me control the parachute reigns and I did all kinds of tumbles and I was thinking that it was like dying and going to heaven and what a wonderful journey that is going to be,” said Nancy, adding that Billy Ray was an extremely competent instructor who made her feel safe and the whole adventure enjoyable.
Upon the gentle landing, Nancy couldn’t wipe the broad smile off her face while the young crowd cheered and her son just stood back and said, “That’s my mother!” “I felt like I was king of the world for making my mother so happy,” said Bobby.
When Nancy saw Dr. Nathan Williams of HOPE: A Women’s Cancer Center in Asheville on surgery day, she told him she wouldn’t need anesthesia because she was on such a high. “He asked me, ‘What did you take?’ and when I told him I went skydiving, he laughed and said, ‘Nancy, I can’t believe it!’” she said.
Overall, Nancy described her skydiving jump as an exhilarating adventure that gave her a more competent feeling to face her breast cancer. “It gave me such a confirmation that the Lord is right there with me and that’s why I don’t have any fear because I know that whatever happens will happen,” said Nancy.
To contact Carolina Skydiving, call 336-526-JUMP (5867).
“It’s an extraordinary experience that I believe everyone should have at least once in their lifetime,” she added.
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