GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 18

сover story

Give a GRAND Gift

Grandma Bee (Rebecca Byrom) with grandsons (L) Alex and Patrick

R

ecently, GRAND's own Christine Crosby had a conversation
with high-flying grandmom, Rebecca Byrom.
There isn't anything a grandmom won't do for her
grandkids, right? Rebecca Byrom (aka Grandma Bee) proved it by
jumping out of an airplane! She freely admits she hates to fly. She
even passed on trips to exciting locales because she didn't want
to deal with the anxiety of getting on an airplane.
So, why would she get off an airplane this way?
As originally reported by EastBayTimes, on July 22, 2017,
Rebecca Byrom, 71, jumped out of a plane. Is she crazy? Yes. She's
crazy about her grandsons - Alex, 12, and Patrick, 15. They are
blessings, she says, who brought new life to a family devastated
by the death of Grandma Bee's oldest child, Cyndy McLin, in a
car accident four days after Christmas in 1995. Cyndy was 29.
After Cyndy's death, Rebecca channeled her grief into training to
become a counselor for bereaved parents.
Then, in April of 2016, Grandma Bee and her husband Tom
were heartbroken again when their grandson Alex was diagnosed

18 GRAND

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2017

Grandma Bee with Alex

with a rare bone cancer - osteosarcoma - in his left leg. Fewer
than 1,000 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year,
mostly in children. The past year and a half has been a grueling
marathon of hospital visits, surgeries, scans, and recovery for Alex
and his parents.
Alex's diagnosis motivated Rebecca to do something to raise
awareness and money for children's cancer research, especially
after finding that only 4% of the annual national research budget
goes to children's cancer research.
She decided to do her first-ever skydive. Her husband's friend,
a Navy Seal trained to do tandem jumps, offered to facilitate her
skydive as a fundraiser. Grandma Bee "jumped" at the chance to
do it when she realized what it could mean for her grandson and
other kids like him.
"I know I'll be terrified," Grandma Bee said. "But I just know I'll
do it."
Her husband Tom agreed to do it too. When asked about it, he
responded, "Oh, God yes, I wouldn't let her have all the fun."

The plan called for seven skydivers: Grandma Bee and Tom plus
their tandem jumpers, two videographers, and Tom's friend. Both
Tom and Rebecca felt confident as the support team members
were pros known as the Patriotic Parachute Team.

"

"

I know I'll be terrified, but
I just know I will do it!

Rebecca and Tom worked with Skydive San Diego, asking for
pledges to the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (no relation to
her Alex). To date, she and Tom have raised more than $28,000.
Rebecca told people, "You can pledge any amount and I'll jump
out of the plane."
"My jump is not entirely about money," explained Rebecca.
"The other big part of it is to show Alex how much I admire the
courage he has shown throughout this. He and other kids, their
lives are out of control, and they're having all these horrible
Continued on next page


http://www.grandsub.com https://www.facebook.com/GRANDmagazine/ https://www.twitter.com/grandMmagazine https://www.cancer.org/cancer/osteosarcoma/about/what-is-osteosarcoma.html https://www.skydivesandiego.com/ http://www.alexslemonade.org/ mypage/1325795

GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017

Contents
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 1
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 2
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 3
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - Contents
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 5
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 6
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 7
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 8
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 9
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 10
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 10a
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 11
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 12
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 13
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 14
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 15
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 15A
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 16
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 17
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 18
GRAND Magazine - November/December 2017 - 19
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