Jenna Barrowcliffe jumped from a plane. As she descended towards earth again, she thought of her mum Karen Ings who loved to skydive.

'She used to do solo skydives back in her younger days. I wouldn't have a clue [how many skydives she did] but she did a fair few.”

Jenna Barrowcliffe's skydive for Jump for Cancer. Supplied Photo.

After raising about $800 for Jump for Cancer, a new part of Daffodil Day month, Jenna was able to follow in her mum's flying footsteps and take the dive herself.

After losing her grandfather Arthur Ings, her aunty Katrina, and then her mother 18 months later, it's fair to say Daffodil Day is important to Jenna.

So when Jump for Cancer started up this year by the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Cancer Society as part of Daffodil Day the Tauranga resident could never say ‘no'.

She fundraised on Facebook and raised about $800 to go towards cancer research, and from that earned herself a skydive.

So Jenna jumped out of a plane on August 7 – her first skydive ever. And Jenna knows her mum would have been proud of her, braving up and doing the jump.

'I could almost feel her there doing it with me.”

Who would have thought jumping out of a plane would make you feel close to your mother? But it's the unusual things that make us feel close to lost loved ones.

'Watching someone you love fight with everything they have is heart-breaking. Watching them take their final breath as you watch helplessly is gut-wrenching, wishing there was something you could do but all you can do is give them comfort in words,” says Jenna.

Jenna with her mum Karen. Supplied Photo.

And Jenna is very proactive in protecting herself and her family from the Big C.

She gets tested annually for stomach and breast cancer as she suspects they run in the family, and she actively teachers her three children about sun safety and why mummy gets checked.

'We haven't had the actual test done, as you need a family member alive with cancer to be tested, but we have to take it that we have the gene.

'My oldest [Jensen, five] knows that mummy just goes and get checked so she can be nice and healthy. I definitely don't try to scare them too much but we're all sun smart, wearing rash shirts and sun hats and sunscreen.”

'Every dollar helps, we all know someone out there that has been affected one way or another by cancer.”

And maybe the skydiving bug has bitten Jenna too, just like it bit her mum. Jenna says she's game to do it again. 'I'm really hoping to do it next year if they run another one.”

Jenna's brother Darion Ings, Jenna and mum Karen. Supplied Photo.