Intrepid Clare Forbes, who has had both legs amputated below the knee, will overcome her fear of heights this weekend with a sponsored parachute jump.

Ms Forbes, 22, who is determined to raise £1 million for charity, completed both the London and New York marathons in 2005 using her prosthetic legs.

Ms Forbes, from Crawley, raises money to fight meningitis and for charities for the disabled. Sunday's leap is in aid of the Douglas Bader Foundation.

She lost her legs after developing meningitis in 2001 and was in a coma for six months. She later twice "died" on the way to a London hospital after contracting the MRSA superbug.

Despite this she has gone on to raise thousands of pounds.

It took her more than 12 hours to finish the New York Marathon and she had to overcome blisters, cuts and the agony caused by part of her natural bone growing back.

Doctors told her not to enter any more marathons so she decided to go for a parachute jump instead.

The 10,000ft jump is taking place with the Army Parachute Association at Netherhaven in Wiltshire.

Ms Forbes, who was named Achiever of the Year at The Argus Achievement Awards last month, said: "I am absolutely terrified by the whole thing but I am determined to do it.

"I'm not supposed to walk marathons any more so at least this is something a bit different.

"I'll get the basic training on the day and will be doing the jump in tandem with someone else.

"I have to take off my prosthetic legs and they will cushion the stumps.

"When we get to the bottom there will be someone lying on the floor ready to catch me.

"They do this quite a lot for people with amputations so I should be fine but it is still very scary.

"I'll probably have my eyes shut the whole time."

The Douglas Bader Foundation is a charity for amputees, established in memory of Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader who lost both his legs in an aeroplane accident in 1931 but became a pilot ace during the Second World War.

As well as raising cash for charity, Ms Forbes and her stepfather Eiffie Verboot are trying to establish a Great Britain branch of the Achilles Road Runners, a US-based running organisation for disabled people.