A BRAVE Bromsgrove mother is preparing to jump out of a plane to raise money for prematurely born babies following her own frightening experience.

Samantha Merrell gave birth to her daughter Maisie last year at only 27 weeks. She weighed only 2lb 7oz and during the first few days of her life had to go on a ventilator, endure blood and platelet transfusions and suffered from severe jaundice.

Samantha said: "We went through a lot of ups and downs and at a few points didn't know if our daughter was going to survive. She was off oxygen by day five and then it was all about putting weight on and establishing feeding. She spent 52 days on the neonatal intensive care unit before she was finally allowed home."

Maisie is a true fighter though and five months on she is home and well. Now, her mum has decided to raise money for Bliss, a charity which helps to support parents of premature babies, by taking part a 10,000ft tandem skydive.

"I want to raise as much money as possible and increase awareness of premature birth. I want to show there are positive stories," she explained.

"We have been so lucky to have our precious bundle of joy at home and even though she's still on the small side she's perfect. Now I want to help families just like mine to get through the emotional rollercoaster of having a premature baby."

Those who want to donate to Samantha's cause can visit justgiving.com/Sam-Merrell/?provider=personalGivingApp&targetdevice=desktop