A WINCHESTER paramedic is preparing for the jump of a lifetime next month.

Jules Cavalier, of Wales Street, works as an Emergency Care Practitioner for the South Central Ambulance Service, and will be abseiling from the top of the 170m tall Spinnaker Tower in aid of the Stroke Association – despite admitting that he is terrified of heights.

The charity, which provides care and support for stroke victims, is one close to 41-year-old Mr Cavalier’s heart.

He said: “I have chosen the Stroke Association because they do research and have got us to where we are now.

“I have worked with stroke patients since I was 17, and we have got to the point now where we can reach them within 20 minutes, get them to a unit within an hour, and actually reverse their symptoms.”

Mr Cavalier’s mother developed a condition that resulted in her waking up blind, and his family cared for her for two years until she passed away.

“The strength she had is what has made me do this,” he said.

“It’s to make her proud.

“We don’t know if she had some sort of brain episode that caused it. I want to do this so that no one else has to go through it.”

The abseil, at 9.30am on March 15, will see Mr Cavalier ‘walk the plank’ out of a top floor window to begin his descent.

He is expecting his father and around 25 others to be waiting for him at the bottom.

To sponsor him, text CAVA66 £(amount) to 70070.