Irene O’Shea may have just started skydiving two years ago at the age of 100, but she is showing no signs of stopping now.
The 102-year-old great-grandmother of 11 attempted to break the record for the world’s oldest skydiver after she leapt from a plane in South Australia on Sunday. O’Shea completed the milestone jump to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease Association of SA, or MNDSA, a nonprofit organization that supports those who suffer from motor neuron disease.
O’Shea, whose daughter died of the disease at the age of 67, was able to raise nearly $12,000 for the organization, according to the Adelaide-based newspaper The Advertiser.
She is still raising money for the cause on GoFundMe.
SA Skydiving, a skydiving shop based in Wellington, assisted O’Shea with her jump Sunday. The 102-year-old was challenging a previous record held by Kenny Meyers, a New Jersey man who set the latest record in 2017 after completing his jump in Sussex County.
When she set the record this weekend, O’Shea was 21 days older than Meyers was when he set the record in 2017, The Advertiser reported.
This marks the third time O’Shea took the sky-high leap with SA Skydiving. She completed her first jump with the company in 2016 on her 100th birthday. She returned again in 2017 for another jump, but used it to raise funds for MND South Australia.
Matt “Teags” Teager of SA Skydiving told HuffPost that the company is submitting O’Shea’s jump to Guinness World Records officials for consideration.
“It’s a fantastic achievement by an incredible lady,” Teager said in an email.
O’Shea is already thinking of doing the jump again ― and again.
“Possibly I will jump next year, and, if I live long enough, I’ll jump at 105,” she told The Advertiser.
Check out photos of O’Shea’s impressive jump below.
