'Life is short': Adventurous 93-year-old skydives thanks to N.S. non-profit

Nova Scotia senior Betty Cochrane loved heights as a young girl. Last week, the 93-year-old took that love to a new level -- by jumping out of a plane.

"I’ve jumped off a lot of roofs when I was growing up,” she said. “When you get older a lot of people think you should go sit on a chair and rock and rock and rock and a lot of them don't realize that you need to be keep moving.“

Betty expressed her desire to skydive to her daughter Barbara, who then contacted We Are Young, a non-profit organization that grants wishes to deserving seniors.

“I thought, well we'll reach out and see what happens after I checked with mom and said, ‘do you really want to do this?’ And she said ‘yeah, I’d really like to do that,’” said Barbara.

Three generations of the Cochranes joined the Atlantic School of Skydiving's airfield to watch and support her.

"I’ll be on the ground,” said Betty’s granddaughter Sophie.

Before the flight, Betty said there isn't much she's afraid of, except her teeth.

"I have to make sure they stay in my mouth. I said ‘I should've bought a piece of tape and put it across my mouth so I wouldn't open it up.’"

After she was suited and booted up, it wasn't long until she was ready to free fall.

“Can we get on with it,” she said. “Let’s move ahead so I can get up in the air.”

After 15 minutes in the plane, Betty’s family cheered as she jumped, descended and then landed swiftly on the ground.

Betty says skydiving is not the last fun activity she’ll will be crossing off her bucket list, but until then she has one piece of advice:

“Life is short and if you find that there is something you want to do, you should make an effort to do it no matter how many people look at you and think you’re crazy.”

With files from CTV’s Hafsa Arif