That Was Fun, Let’s Do It Again
By John Swartz
Corey Henderson jumped out of an airplane last summer. He’s going to do it again Sept. 7.
“I sure am,” Henderson said.
The back story is his wife, Catherine, died as a result of having a seizure in 2015. Henderson has been involved in many fundraising efforts through his 13 year career with Shopper’s Drug Mart. The passing of his wife caused him to create a bucket list and one of the items was skydiving. The obvious thing to do was create an event to raise money for Epilepsy Canada.
So last August on his birthday, he and several others took the leap from a Toronto Skydiving airplane flying over the Cookstown area.
“Last year we raised close to $5,000,” said Henderson, “it was $4,700 and change.”
He wanted to help research for a new seizure detecting device developed by Dr. Peter Carlen at Toronto Western Hospital. Henderson calls it a cap, but it looks more like a head band. The device marketed by Avertus Inc. monitors brainwaves and can detect a seizure before it happens. Another device can send electrical pulses to the brain to stop the seizure, but more work needs to be done to make the two devices work together.
This year he wants to have any money raised stay local.
“Last year I did it with Epilepsy Canada. This year it’s called Catherine Jayne’s Sky Diving for Epilepsy,” said Henderson. “I’m going to be donating all the money I raise to epilepsy, probably over to the Simcoe County epilepsy group.”
Anyone who wants to contribute can call Toronto Skydiving, 705-458-9339. to register for the Sept. 7 jump. There are too heights to choose from for your dive, 10,500 (cost including donation $338) or 12,000 feet ($394). You can also visit the fundraiser Facebook page to keep up with preparations for the event and find some helpful information about Epilepsy.
(Photos Submitted) Main – Corey Henderson skydiving at the 2018 Epilepsy fundraiser.