With over 275 successful jumps under her belt and a need for speed, Ann Wick geared up and took to the air for her fifth or sixth skydive on Friday afternoon. The Stillwater nurse had spent the day with four other women practicing a special formation dive about an hour outside of Phoenix, Ariz.

That last jump cost Wick her life.

According to police, Wick experienced complications while descending as she participated in a women's skydiving event with friends in Eloy on Jan. 24. The 55-year-old Minnesota native was pronounced dead at the scene.

A hobby that began in her early 50s while pursuing a nursing degree became a passion she participated in as often as she could, Wick's close friend, Kelly Perro said.

"She loved how it made her feel free. ... There was nothing better than just free-falling," Perro said.

The specific cause of Wick's death is under investigation, Eloy police said, noting the equipment used, procedures and other factors are being reviewed.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigates the packing of parachutes and the pilot and aircraft's flight rules, according to a statement. However, the FAA does not determine the cause of an accident. If the agency does not find evidence of a regulatory violation, it will defer further investigation to local law enforcement.

Calls to the Eloy Police Department were not returned Tuesday and Wednesday.

"She wasn't the one that actually packed her parachute," Perro said. "She actually paid someone to do it."

A lifelong thrill-seeker

Wick's love for the outdoors and thrill began at a young age while on a family ski trip to the Dolomite Alps in Italy.

After a short beginner's lesson and a few practice runs, 12-year-old Wick was hooked. What started as a routine family ski trip, a common occurrence for her family, turned into a stepping stone to other thrilling sports, her brother Jeff Wallis said.

Although Wick was always an adventurer, her risk tolerance increased over the years due to multiple near-death experiences.

When she was 20 years old, Wick was involved in a car accident that resulted in a broken pelvis and the news from doctors who informed her she would never be able to have children, Wallis said.

Despite this, Wick went on to have two healthy children, Charlie, now 23, and Rosalie, 22. Wallis said Wick embraced motherhood with open arms and adored her children.

Two decades later, Wick was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer and underwent multiple surgeries and chemotherapy treatment, Wallis said. Yet even as her family prepared for the worst, she made a full recovery.

"I think when you have a near-death experience like that and, in her case, a couple of them, maybe her risk tolerance is slightly different," Wallis said. "She was always more apt to go on the edge of what she could do, you know, test herself and see what she was capable of."

When she wasn't chasing adrenaline rushes, Wick could be found in the halls of United Hospital where she worked as a nurse, a job she was passionate about. Wick said it was her calling to help others, according to Wallis.

"All nurses are just angels, you know," Perro said. "And everyone that she touched, she just put them before herself."

Perro said Wick was considering going back to school and becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She was also planning a family ski trip.

Wallis was in the process of framing a vintage poster of the ski area where their family first traveled for his sister when he received the news of the accident.

The poster will now be given to Wick's daughter, Rosalie.

"Part of me believes it was her time to go, and she went doing something that she loved," Perro said. "She was an angel in so many aspects of her life and I truly believe God needed her somewhere else."