GXpress national sales manager Mel Hardcastle was up in the air last weekend for a good cause… skydiving to raise money for brain cancer research.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience… surreal, extraordinary, and completely mind-blowing,” she says.

Not normally a thrillseeker, the staid (when she’s representing GXpress, anyway) mother-of-two from the NSW Central Coast was one of six who jumped from 14,000 feet over the Hope Estate Wineries, on the picturesque Hunter Valley. Plans for the skydive came about to honour a friend who died after a two-year battle with brain cancer.

“She showed tremendous courage and bravery and through that, a ‘Be Brave for Brain Cancer’ organisation” was formed to raise awareness and funds for brain cancer research as well as supporting families who are affected by it,” says Mel.

She is pictured (left with friends) and during her jump on June 12.