On Sunday 19 May, former journalist and TV presenter, now 80 years old, Rhonda Davis, grandmother of three from Bushey, Herts, took on the fastest zip line challenge in Europe to raise funds for the hospitals that saved her life and have looked after her for the past six years. 

Following a double heart by-pass plus a further eight stents, two years later, Rhonda was jokingly told by her consultant, she 'now had a heart as strong as a twenty-five-year-old.' So, she decided to put it to the test.

Three years ago, she jumped out of an aeroplane at 13,500 ft. in a tandem skydive and last year she abseiled 100 metres down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Both challenges raised funds for our Charity's Trust Research Programme into sudden onset cardiac arrest, particularly in young people.

 This year was the ultimate challenge – to take on the Velocity 2 Zip Wire at Penrhyn Quarry, N.Wales, which travels up to 125 mph - the fastest in Europe, together with her daredevil cardiologist Dr. Will Wallis of Watford General Hospital and Sallinder Rai, mother of three and Fundraising Manager at Harefield.

The funds raised by these adventurers will go toward our pioneering Harefield Transplant Appeal, to raise funds for Organ Care Systems to allow more patients to receive life-saving transplants.

Post-challenge, Rhonda said, “It was super and the setting blew my mind. It was even better than I expected.”

When we asked about her next fundraising activity, Rhonda mentioned a bobsleigh run in Kiev and a trapeze: 

“Nobody’s afraid of anything until you’ve done it. It’s not what you can’t do, it’s what you can do.”

If you'd like to donate to Rhonda's fundraising page, please click here. Thank you, Rhonda!