A family in West Cork is preparing to leap from thousands of feet to raise funds for a charity that supported their loved one throughout her battle with lung fibrosis.

Berni Smith passed away in March while awaiting a lung transplant, and now her brother, Cormac and three of his children, Emily, Odhran and Fionan, are taking on the charity skydive in her memory. The family is raising funds for the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association, and hopes to use the 12,000ft leap to boost awareness about the condition

Born in Roscommon, Berni worked with AIB in Dublin for close to forty years, where she made many lifelong friends. Cormac, who has lived near Garretstown for more than thirty years, fondly recounted how she faced her battle with the disease with unerring positivity, no matter what challenges came her way.

Berni Smith

“From the first day, Berni had a great attitude about the whole thing; it was never a problem, and she stayed positive throughout the treatment. I once asked her how she was feeling, and she told me: ‘Shut up, Cormac, I’m on the right road, in the right place, and we have a plan,’ but she just never got there in the end,” he told CorkBeo.

Berni was first on the transplant list, but finding a suitable donor organ is extremely difficult, with only a handful of procedures being carried out here in Ireland each year.

Cormac continued: “Berni was first on the list, but lung transplants are rare here in Ireland; there are maybe 12 to 15 carried out each year. Everything has to match up; they need to be the right size, the right shape – it’s a very complicated procedure.

“The day she passed away, she was in flying form. My brothers and sisters live all around the world, and since covid, our family has a video call every Saturday. On that morning, she was giving out yards to my mother, and Berni had her nieces and a few friends visiting her later that day – the nurses told us they were even thinking about heading in and telling them to quiet down.

“Berni slept well that night, but when the nurses came in to check on her early the next morning, she had passed away. Throughout her life, she had made so many friends, people were coming over from the United States and London for her funeral, that’s just the kind of person she was.”

Cormac’s most recent skydive was three years ago with his daughter, Emily

Berni told her family that the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association were enormously helpful to her throughout her battle with the disease. The charity runs support groups for those battling with lung fibrosis, and it was there that Berni was able to share her experiences and hear from others fighting the same disease.

In her will, Berni left a sum of money to the charity, and the kindness they showed to his sister inspired Cormac to set up the fundraiser.

Cormac works as a construction director at Clancy, and he says his employer has been hugely supportive of the fundraiser. In his younger years, he undertook more than 160 jumps, and his children have long been looking to follow in their father’s footsteps.

Following Berni’s passing, the family decided to dedicate their first skydive to her memory and to raise funds for the charity she held close to her heart. Besides one jump with his eldest daughter three years ago, it’s been 21 years since Cormac went skydiving, but he’s confident that he’ll settle back into his old mindset.

Cormac said: “We’re doing the skydive in her memory. I did around 160 jumps when I was younger, and my children have been asking me for years to bring them on one, so we decided to do it for Berni.

“The first jump isn’t the worst, it’s the second. The first time around, you don’t really know what you’re doing or what’s going to happen, but by the second, you know what you’re in for before you jump. We’ll be heading up to Clonbullogue in Co Offaly at the end of next month, and we’ll be jumping from around 12,000ft.”

The family has raised close to half of their €4,000 target in just the first few days, and they’re hoping to hit their goal by the time the plane leaves the ground on June 27. If you want to find out more about the fundraiser and donate directly here.