Patricia nun the worse for leap of faith

She’s not likely to make a habit of it, but 76-year-old Presentation nun Sr Patricia Wall successfully completed her charity skydive at a sun- drenched Galway last Saturday.

Buoyed by a dozen friends and family members, Sr Patricia completed the 3.2km tandem jump in aid of Aware and local charities in Slieveradagh, Co Tipperary.

A beaming Sr Patricia was thrilled to have finally got the chance to jump, after poor weather conditions foiled earlier attempts, but she thinks she might have to wait a few years before experiencing the buzz again.

A little over 25 minutes after she took off, Sr Patricia returned gently to solid ground thanks to the guidance of tandem jumper Dean Cocozza.

She may have been momentarily stunned by her trip, but after taking a moment to come to terms with her experience, she was delighted.

“I’ll need time to recover from that,” she said. “It was amazing. I don’t think [I’ll do it any time soon]. I’ll have to think about it. Not at the moment anyway, but it was very good. I’ll do the next one when I turn 90.

“I was trying to follow all the instructions and to enjoy it. So now it is done, it’s done. I hadn’t time to think about God. It’s done. And I’m not allowed brandy now for another eight hours,” said Sr Patricia, who hopes to raise over €100,000 for her selected charities.

Before undertaking her training with Sky Dive Ireland, which moved its base from Birr to Galway earlier this year, Sr Patricia said she had little or no nerves about the jump.

Others seemed more worried about it that she did herself, she said.

“Four local people did it so I said I’d do it to raise money for Aware and a couple of community projects. Nobody tried to talk me out of it.

“The only thing they wanted was a doctor’s cert and my GP gave me that.

“I’m not nervous, they all know I’m mad anyway. My superior asked me if I was sure about doing it at my age. But the skydive people have had people doing this in their 80s,” she said.

Her brother, Michael Wall, and other family members were cheering her on from the ground at Galway Airport and Michael paid tribute to her bravery.

“She’s great to do it at her age. She told us last October. At her age I thought she was crazy, but all credit to her.

“I’m not really worried for her. They’ve only had seven broken ankles in seven years,” he said.

And would she advise any other septuagenarians to take the plunge? 

“Oh I don’t know, they’d have to think about it and see themselves, but it was great,” said Sr Patricia.

* To donate see ‘The Flying Nun’ on www.mycharity.ie.