'Sign Along With Us's Jade Kilduff to wing walk whilst signing for charity

An inspirational teenager from Heywood, who runs an online sign language channel, will be overcoming her fear of flying by completing a wing walk to raise money for charity - whilst signing.

College student Jade Kilduff, 18, who runs the online channel “Sign Along With Us” with her little brother, Christian, four, is hoping to raise £1,000 for Peeps HIE, a charity which supports those affected by HIE (hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy), a lack of oxygen to the brain before, during, or shortly after labour.

HIE can cause injury, and the severity of this can vary greatly, says the charity, often given a grade from 1, which is mild, to 3, which is severe.

Jade said: “Peeps-Hie is the charity that Christian and I are proudly ambassadors for, they bring vital support to families whose children like Christian have suffered a HIE brain injury.

“Christian had a HIE event after needing 24 minutes of resuscitation when he was stillborn at birth. This led to him being sight impaired and being diagnosed with Quad Cerebral Palsy. This charity is so close to our hearts and we are very passionate about helping them in any way we can.

“When Christian came to live with our family from hospital at five-weeks-old, we were told he had a grade 3 HIE injury. We had no idea what that was and what that could lead to and knew nobody else who had experience or could help us.

“Peeps are changing that by providing families whose child has an HIE event with information packs and, more importantly, supporting families from the start and being there throughout their journey, whatever the outcomes are.”

Determined to improve the lives of those with disabilities, Jade set up the group ‘Sign Along With Us’ in January 2019, a daily sign-of-the-day video page which has become an internet sensation, teaching Makaton which she uses to communicate with Christian.

Makaton signs are based on the gestures used in BSL, but it is used in conjunction with speech and in English grammatical word order. Over 100,000 children and adults use Makaton symbols and signs, either as their main method of communication, or as a way to support speech.

Jade added: “I’m very scared of flying: I am usually brought to tears when we take a flight, so this is going to challenge me, but I love a challenge and adrenaline-filled activities. I will be making to more fun by signing lots of Makaton during the flight.

“I would really appreciate it if anyone would like to sponsor me.”

Jade is due to wing walk on Saturday 25 April 2020 at Breighton Aerodrome in Selby, Yorkshire.

To donate, please visit:

• www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/wingwalkforpeeps