For the past ten years, Andrew Samuels has risen to the challenges that life as a multiple sclerosis sufferer has flung at him.

So when a research team sent him a letter questioning his bravery, 39-year-old Andrew couldn't resist taking them on.

His legs may be crippled and much of the time he has to rely on a wheelchair to get about, but he is determined they won't let him down on a 10,000ft sky-dive.

Andrew, who was forced to give up his job at a Keighley engineering firm because of his condition -- he feared losing his balance and falling into a machine -- is making the jump on Saturday, July 27, at an airfield near Brigg, in Lincolnshire.

He will fall in tandem, strapped to a skilled sky-diver, in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Trust.

"When I asked my wife, Liz, if I could do it she said yes but that I must do it in tandem.

"I think if I'd done it on my own I'd have killed myself," said Andrew, who now lives in Grimsby.

"I gather you don't have to do a lot in tandem -- I don't need to learn any particular skills. Somebody else does all the work. All I have to do is be able to bend my legs on landing, so that I don't crush them.

"I'm having to have special physiotherapy and I'm exercising because at the moment my legs are very stiff," said Andrew, a former student at Greenhead Grammar School, Keighley.

Andrew confesses to being nervous about the challenge.

"Most of the time I think I can do it, no problem. Then at others I think I'm going to jump 10,000 feet -- I must be wrong in my head," he said.

"But the challenge is worth it. It's for a very good cause and more money needs to go into researching the disease.

"I'm not confined to a wheelchair. I get about using a frame on wheels, but if I have to go any distance -- like shopping -- I need a wheelchair."

He has been seeking work but because of his disability -- he also has difficulty holding objects -- suitable jobs are difficult to find.

"My wife is a teacher and I like to help out at school, especially making props for school shows," he said.

Andrew was diagnosed with the disease about ten years ago. He has progressive multiple sclerosis as opposed to the relapsing and remitting type.

Andrew is delighted with the sponsorship response he has had from friends and businesses, and hopes friends in Keighley will be as generous.

Anyone wanting to sponsor him should telephone him on 78131 23097.

A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Research Trust said the challenge was either a 10,000ft sky-dive or a 3,000ft solo parachute jump.

Money raised would go towards the research programme.

Anyone wanting more information should telephone the trust on 01462 476700.