Kippax Youth Sustained Serious Injuries When She Was Just Seven – But Has Now Done A Skydive

A teenager from Kippax who lost her dad and brothers in a road traffic accident 10 years ago celebrated their memory by taking part in a 10,000ft skydive.

Leah Bell was only seven-years-old when she and her family were involved in the collision, in which she sustained a number of severe injuries to her limbs. In addition, she has also suffered psychologically as a result of the accident.

The past decade has been a struggle for Leah, both physically and mentally, as she has had to learn the most basic of skills again such as walking and cutting up her own food, but has also had to come to terms with a huge loss in her family at such a young age.

However, Leah is keen to make the most of her life and on 19 May she took to the skies in a 10,000ft skydive, raising over £1000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Joanne Fraser, a specialist Court of Protection lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, dealt with the management of a Trust established for Leah.

Expert Opinion

“I am incredibly proud of how far Leah has come since the accident.

What Leah went through must have been incredibly difficult and I commend her bravery and determination in battling through it all and getting her life back.

I look forward to seeing what the future holds for her.”
Joanne Fraser - Partner

Sion Kingston, Partner in Irwin Mitchell's Serious Injury team who represented Leah following the road traffic collision, successfully secured a settlement for Leah which will be used to provide her with the necessary support she may require.

Leah was devastated when she lost her dad and brothers.  She said: “They were my best friends and coming to terms with what happened was really hard.  Nobody knew the amount of times I felt like giving up, but I knew I needed to get better.  I needed to be there for my family and take any opportunity life threw at me because my dad and brothers had that taken away from them. 

“Over the past 10 years, I have raised money for memorial benches for my family and done everything I can to remember them in the best possible ways.

“The skydive was one of my biggest challenges, but I did it for two reasons.  My dad always wanted to go in a helicopter so I did it for him, and also to raise money and say a massive thank you to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance for their efforts in trying to keep my dad and brothers with me.  Hopefully another family will not have to go through what mine has.”

Leah attributes much of her recovery to remaining positive and added: “When you go through something that changes your life, all you see is the negatives.  But a few years down the line you will see how far you’ve come and that it was all down to not giving up.

“Everything I do now is for my family, and that’s my inspiration.”

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Court of Protection cases