A GROUP of friends are staging a sponsored skydive to help a ten-year-old Hampshire girl win her battle to walk.

Keeley Cullen has had a life-changing operation but needs another two years of physiotherapy and rehabilitation, which is set to cost at least £20,000.

Mum Zara, 30, of Marchwood, has spent months raising the money needed to enable Keeley to strengthen the muscles in her legs.

Now she has persuaded seven of her friends to take part in a group skydive near Salisbury.

Six of the fundraisers will leap out of an aircraft on July 15

Keeley suffers from cerebral palsy and had a procedure known as Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR).

Surgeons at the world-famous Great Ormond Street Hospital in London cut through the faulty spinal nerves responsible for the stiffness in her legs.

Keeley still walks with the aid of sticks but is already able to accomplish tasks that other people take for granted, such as negotiating kerbs.

SDR and the follow-up treatment is not available on the NHS, which means families of children who need the procedure must fund it themselves.

The bill for Keeley's operation and physiotherapy has already reached £50,000 - but Zara needs to raise between £20,000 and £25,000 to enable the sessions to continue.

She said: “One of my friends told me that skydiving was a great way to raise funds.

"I put some information about the planned skydive on social media, expecting two or three friends to respond, and was surprised when I heard that seven of them wanted to do it.”

None of those taking part has ever skydived before.

Zara said: “They're all petrified. We have a group chat going on and all of them have been sharing their fears. I think those performing the jump in July are glad they're doing it as a group, which means they can support one another."

Zara and her daughter Keeley will be cheering them on as they complete the 10,000ft descent, which aims to raise at least £1,000.

A spokesman for the charity Caudwell Children, which is helping to fund Kelley's physiotherapy, said: “Skydives are not for the faint-hearted. The participants will launch themselves into the abyss before initially free-falling towards the ground at 120mph."

To help Keeley visit justgiving.com and type "jump for keeley" into the search bar.