83-year-old Amarillo veteran with heart failure returns to skydiving

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - An 83-year-old Army paratrooper veteran in Amarillo is proving it’s never too late to chase your dreams.

“All I want to do is get on a plane, get up in the air and jump. You know it’s exciting for me, it’s just something I like to do and something I want to do, and I’m going to continue doing it as long as i can,” said Tommy Townsend, veteran & skydiver.

After a long battle with heart failure, Townsend returned to the sky for his second skydive in over three decades.

“I had retired in 1991 because I had a heart attack and I was due to deploy in Desert Storm, but once I had the heart attack I couldn’t deploy,” said Townsend.

Over the next several years, he would undergo two bypass surgeries, multiple heart stent replacements and pacemaker procedures.

After his second bypass surgery, a cardiologist recommended a remote-monitoring device, which immediately gave him renewed vigor.

“I’ve given up pretty much everything I did because I was so worried about my heart, but once I got the CardioMEMS and they started showing me how it worked and how it changed my outlook on everything I started back walking, then I started back playing golf and then I started looking for a place to jump,” said Townsend.

Townsend was implanted with the Abbott CardioMEMS in late 2022, and it gives him the peace of mind to take on even the most adrenaline-inducing sports.

Jumping out of planes was nothing new to him after serving in the military for 26 years. Townsend was drafted at the age of 24 and served in Vietnam as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. He quickly rose in the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel, serving in the special forces.

“Don’t give up, that’s all I got to say. Do what you want to do, whatever you love to do, and do it before it’s too late,” said Townsend.

Townsend says he wants to continue to defy the odds by making multiple jumps within the next year.

He plans to skydive next month and he hopes to jump out of a hot air balloon one day.