An incredible SURVIVAL

One woman shares her story of how grateful she is to be alive

Standing in the spot where her life changed forever, Joanne McConville is overcome with emotion. For 26 years, Joanne, now 55, from Antrim, kept the memories locked away, but in September 2021, she decided it was time to face them. 'I'd shut away the trauma for decades. Suddenly, everything became very real after years of acting like it had never happened,' Joanne says.

It was April 1995 when Joanne literally had a life-or death moment in a horrific skydiving accident. An experienced jumper, she was about to complete her 65th solo jump, but she hadn't planned to jump that day, stopping at the skydive centre after a picnic with her sons, Aaron, then nine, Matthew, seven, and Alex, four, to collect her partner, Joe, then 33, a skydive instructor. 'Joe was going up with a few others, and they needed an extra person on board so I agreed,' Joanne remembers. 'It was a chance to practise a jump I was trying to perfect, but deep down, something didn't feel quite right."

Joanne and her fellow jumpers strapped on their parachutes, and as the plane climbed to 6,500ft, she and Joe prepared to jump. By now, the others had already jumped at lower altitudes.

Joanne jumped and Joe followed seconds later, the pair in free fall. 'I practised the move a 360-degree turn in free fall - and was thrilled when I nailed it,' Joanne recalls. 'Joe swooped down to my level and we celebrated, giving each other the thumbs up.'

Caught in the moment, Joanne didn't realise how quickly they were approaching the ground. Joe opened his parachute, signalling to Joanne to do the same. But as he slowed down and drifted upwards, her main and reserve parachutes opened simultaneously. 'I looked up and saw all the lines were tangled, and looked down to see the ground rushing up towards me,' Joanne says. 'I was positive I was going to die.'