Pair Plummets On Her 30th Birthday

For her 30th birthday, Heather Ellis decided she wanted to jump out of an airplane. And when she mentioned it to her grandfather, he decided to go along for the ride ... and the fall.

Kenneth Wallace, the granddad, is 72. He told the Salisbury Post that his granddaughter caught him "in a weak moment. I didn't want her to go by herself." Neither of her parents would join her on her adventure.

And that's how the Landis, NC pair found themselves in a Piedmont Skydiving airplane getting ready to take the plunge. Ellis said her granddad has always been one of her main supporters, particularly when she was diagnosed at age three with leukemia. The disease has been in remission since Heather was 4, but her grandparents often babysat for her while she was sick. Heather and her granddad played with Barbies for hours, according to Wallaces' wife Judy.

It was the first jump for both Heather and Kenneth. Each made a tandem jump with an instructor, freefalling for about 5,000 feet before the chutes were opened.

Would they do it again? Well, the Salisbury Post reports that Heather is thinking about another jump this fall ... and Kenneth has not ruled out going with her for the second jump.

FMI: www.piedmontskydiving.com