A FATHER is to overcome his fear of heights in memory of his daughter who died when she was just a few months old — by jumping out of plane 14,000 ft in the air.

Barry Grant, aged 29, from Horwich, will be taking part in a tandem parachute jump next month, to raise money for a charity set up in his daughter’s name.

Lagan’s Foundation will give parents who have babies with heart conditions the support and advice to care for their child at home which he and his partner, Carren Bell, desperately wanted but did not have.

He said: “I’m petrified by heights but I’m quite looking forward to doing this in a strange kind of way. The reason I’m doing this is to raise the profile of the charity, and by doing something extreme it will have more of an impact, and conquer one of my fears.”

The parachute jump will be the first public fundraising event for Lagan’s Foundation which will fund the respite service for parents with children born with cardiac conditions.

It will also help parents navigate the complex system to access the help they are entitled to.

Lagan was born on January 11 and died on April 26 due to congenital heart defects. In her name, the couple have already raised £3,600 for Ronald McDonald House, where the family stayed when Lagan was being treated at Alder Hey Hospital.

Miss Bell, aged 31, said: “There is a need for a respite service for parents with children with complex congenital heart defects in the home so parents can have something to eat, or have a shower or just take a break knowing the baby is being cared for by trained people.

“We will also help parents find out what support they are entitled to.

I’ve only found out that we should have had a paediatric nurse visit Lagan twice a week — we had two visits in eight weeks.”

She added: “Ultimately a service like this will save a life. I don’t want parents to go through what we did, I will never know whether having those visits would have saved Lagan’s life.”

For more information on Lagan’s Foundation email lagansfoundation@ gmail.com. A website, lagans.org.uk, will be online soon.