Blind teen with brain tumour completes skydive

Jack completed the charity skydive in Peterlee on Saturday

A blind teenager with a brain tumour has completed a charity skydive in his final fundraising effort before taking a break to focus on his GCSEs.

Jack Thompson tackled the challenge at the SkyHigh Skydiving centre in Peterlee on Saturday and said it had been "brilliant".

The 16-year-old, who lives in Gateshead, has raised more than £160,000 for the charity Young Lives vs Cancer in the past nine years.

He said he could return to fundraising once he has finished his exams.

"I want to do well in as many GCSE subjects as possible - hopefully all of them - and maths is my favourite," Jack told PA Media.

He was diagnosed with a low grade glioma, a type of brain tumour, on his optic nerve when he was four months old, which left him registered blind.

He has since undergone seven rounds of chemotherapy, proton therapy and needs to have regular brain scans and growth hormone injections every night.

Jack, right, was joined by Sam Hughes from Young Lives vs Cancer at the skydive

Jack's aunt Wendy, her friend Amy and Sam Hughes - a fundraising engagement manager at Young Lives vs Cancer - all tackled skydives too.

The teenager has fundraised at Morrisons shops since 2018 and a manager at the supermarket's store in Doxford Park also joined the group in completing the adventure on Saturday.

Jack had previously told BBC Radio Newcastle that he was "not at all" nervous about the skydive.

"I'm a thrill-seeker," he said.

Describing the skydive as "brilliant", he added: "They harness you up and then you jump out of the plane and when you're doing the freefall, it is very windy and you are moving at about 120 miles an hour, which I heard.

"Even in the space of 30 seconds going at that speed, you drop so much, but I love going fast.

"I also got to do a bit of steering of the parachute which was a great experience."