Skydiver's spirits still high

CLOSE FRIENDS—Jodi Keeter of Ventura, left, and Virginia Hoover of Camarillo share a smile together during a recent fundraiser to help raise money for Hoover's medical bills. The Camarillo woman is recovering from a skydiving accident in April in which she shattered her leg after falling about 2,500 feet when her parachutes malfunctioned. Virginia Hoover remembers chasing clouds and flying through rainbows.

The Camarillo woman wasn't dreaming—she was skydiving.

"For one of my favorite jumps, I was tethered to a guy for what's called a tandem jump," Hoover said. "He said, well, we can just go down—or do some fun stuff, like chase clouds. We headed toward a cloud, and just before we got there, there was a perfect shadow of us on the cloud. We went right through the cloud and then right through a rainbow."

Today, Hoover is recuperating from her most harrowing skydiving experience.

On April 20, the 50-year-old woman went skydiving in the Lake Elsinore area. It also happened to be her first 12,500-foot jump completely by herself.

She deployed her primary parachute around 2,500 feet in the air, but within seconds, the backup chute opened on its own. The lines from the secondary chute tangled with the main chute. Soon, both parachutes were on each side of Hoover, and she quickly accelerated toward the ground.

Hoover said witnesses estimated she crashed into compacted dirt traveling around 80 miles per hour.

"It beats landing on the freeway," Hoover said with a laugh. "It could have been worse. I could have landed on asphalt or concrete."

Her right leg shattered and she broke four vertebrae in her back. She broke several ribs, and about 10 days after the fall, two liters of blood filled her lungs when she made a second trip to the emergency room. Hoover still can't put any weight on her right leg, which has 23 screws and two metal plates in it, and she spends a lot of her time at home.

Hoover, who has worked 18 years at St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital, is a single mother with two adult children. Hoover, who has made 20 jumps, said St. John's offered to keep her job as a CT scan technologist open for six months, or until around October. She also faces a lengthy recovery—and rising medical bills.

Sharon Niemi of Oxnard has come to Hoover's aid.

On Sun., Aug. 3, Niemi will hold a cut-athon at her Center Salon, 2711 E. Main St. in Ventura, and donate all proceeds to Hoover. From private donations and the first cut-athon on July 20, Niemi has collected about $1,100 for her friend. She hopes to raise another $500 on Sunday and is also planning another cutathon at a later date.

"Virginia is a beautiful woman physically, and her spirit is equally as beautiful," Niemi said. "When she does CT scans, she would soothe people's fears by giving them a hug or placing her hands on their shoulders and assuring them. Her smile goes from here to Chicago."

Hoover also gets help moving around from daughters Sara, 21, a student at Cal State University Channel Islands, and April, 24, who works at Casa Pacifica in Camarillo. Friends also take her out to restaurants, movies and beaches.

Hoover hopes to continue hiking, kayaking and riding motorcycles in due time.

Her doctors might not want her to jump out of airplanes ever again, however.

"I would like to do it again," she said. "Once I'm up there, looking down, I don't know if I could jump. It's an amazing experience though. Nothing else can compare to it."

Hoover, who has lived in Camarillo for about 22 years, remains upbeat. "I'm alive. I could have been dead and a lot worse off. It's certainly an uphill battle, but I couldn't make it without people like Sharon. People have been sending me dinners and mowing my lawns. I couldn't make it without the huge community of people supporting me. I'm glad to be living in Camarillo."

To make an appointment at Center Salon or make a donation, call (805) 643-2711 or visit the salon's website at www.centersalonventura.com.