DOTING wife Debbie Howard made a two-mile leap of love for her sick husband.

Debbie, a 39-year-old from Ferring, near Worthing, made a daring parachute jump in front of her family to raise money for research into motor neurone disease. Her husband John, 43, was diagnosed with the fatal muscle-wasting illness last October, and the couple, who live in Ferringham Way with their children Paula, 14, Ashley, six, Alexander, four, and Luke, three, were devastated by the news. Mother-of-four Debbie's feelings of helplessness led her to take the plunge and jump 10,000ft at Chatteris Airfield in Cambridgeshire, raising more than £2,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. It was her first parachute jump and she loved every second of it. She said: "It was absolutely amazing! "We were going to jump from 7,000ft, but in the end it was 10,000ft. If I do it again I want to jump from 20,000ft! "I fell face down with an instructor strapped to my back and I thought we were going to drop like a stone, but you just float down when the parachute opens. "I was hoping to raise about £1,000, but we've got about £2,500 and the total is still rising. "I'm just bowled over, it's a fantastic response." John who watched Debbie's jump with their children from the ground, said: "She's a very go-for-it person and she couldn't wait to do it. "When she came out of the plane she was just a little dot in the sky, but when I heard all this whooping and cheering I thought I know who THAT is!'. "I'm quite jealous actually, and I would love to have a go myself, but I'm afraid of heights. Still, it looks like fun. "She's raised a fantastic amount of money and we got a real buzz from people's overwhelming generosity." Although the madcap mum says she hopes to jump again her next fund-raising effort will be much less dangerous - a street collection in Worthing town centre on May 1.

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