Olivia Giles and Jamie Andrew - both quadruple amputees and accomplished fundraisers - have joined forces to launch 500 miles.

The Edinburgh-based group to fund initiatives abroad which will deliver prosthetic services and related care.

Ms Giles said that in many countries the loss of a limb could be devastating, and is potentially fatal.

With the blessing of Charlie and Craig Reid of the Proclaimers, the Scottish charity has used the lyrics of the duo's famous song as an aspirational goal for those they aim to help.

Olivia Giles, 41, was a partner in the commercial property department of a law firm when she contracted the blood poisoning form of meningitis in February 2002.

This very quickly led to the amputation of her hands and feet.

Since then she has worked to increase awareness of meningitis and has raised almost £500,000 for the cause.

She said: "As Jamie and I both know well, losing a limb need not be a sentence to an early death or a life of misery and lack of fulfilment.

"A little shared knowledge and even the cheapest prosthetic devices would go a long way to vastly improving the quality of the lives of many people who have little or no opportunity to overcome their disability.

"These people would otherwise be bed or wheelchair-bound, unable to work or forced to live in discomfort without limbs or with limbs homemade from scrap," she added.

Ms Giles first met Jamie Andrew when her family asked him to visit her in hospital five years ago.

'Strategic grants'

Mountaineer Jamie, 37, was trapped for five nights in a storm on the summit of a mountain near the ski resort of Chamonix, France, alongside fellow climber Jamie Fisher.

Rescue teams eventually reached the men on Les Droites, but were too late to save Mr Fisher.

Jamie, originally from Bearsden near Glasgow, survived, despite suffering hypothermia and frostbite, but days later all four of his hands and feet were amputated.

Andrew was the first quadruple amputee to climb Ben Nevis

Since losing his hands and feet, Jamie has taken up skiing, run a marathon and returned to climb once more in the mountains where the accident happened.

He said: "We intend to fundraise in the UK so that 500 miles can make strategic grants to suitable projects in places where the need is greatest.

"This may involve funding the education and training of prosthetists, the purchase of components for limbs and the building of prosthetic centres.

"In the UK the NHS provides prosthetic limbs to all amputees who are able to use them allowing them to get on with their lives.

"In other parts of the world, where, every year, thousands of men, women and children lose arms and legs due to war, landmines, disease and poverty, loss of a limb means loss of livelihood, home and family - if not death."

Olivia added that she was very grateful for the medical and prosthetic services she received from the Scottish NHS.

In 2000 Mr Andrew became the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, raising £15,000 for charity.

Mr Andrew was honoured for his bravery at the 1999 Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (Radar) People of the Year Awards.