A DIABETIC schoolgirl will jump from a plane for charity, alongside her 70-year-old grandad and a nurse.

Grays Convent pupil Lily Harris, 16, her grandad, Robin Gray, and nurse Chris Bounds, 34, will take the 30,000ft plunge for Diabetes UK in July.

Proud Mum Julie, 45, of Moore Avenue, Grays, said: "It was horrific for her when she was diagnosed because she was at her peak in dancing representing England. She competed in Marseille, France, and came sixth in the world then had to go into hospital as soon as she got home."

Lily was diagnosed as an insulin dependant diabetic when she was ten, but the condition has never stopped her achieving success in dancing, baton twirling and modelling.

She said: "I want people to know they don't have to sit in and think they can't do things because they're diabetic.

"I've never let it get in the way of what I want to do."

Lily, her grandad Mr Gray, of Long Lane, Grays, and children's specialist nurse Mr Bounds, who also has diabetes, will do the jump in Ashford, Kent, on July 16.

Mr Gray, who keeps himself fit by going to the gym four times a week, said: "I'm quite looking forward to it. My grand-daughter hijacked me into it.

"She's afraid of nothing and I'm trying to keep my end of the family up. I'm feeling fit and healthy so there shouldn't be any problems other than getting someone to push me out of the plane."

Chris, 32, works at Basildon and Orsett Hospitals and admits to being a little nervous.

He said: "I drive past an airfield on the way to work and that's when it dawns on me I'll be jumping from a plane.

"I promised Lily I would do it last year and hoped she had forgotten. But she didn't and here we are."

To sponsor the trio e-mail Julie Harris at julieharris@blueyonder. co.uk