The 22-year-old from Victoria, who is widely seen as the poster girl for Australian Paralympic sport, had her right leg amputated above the knee to give her the best chance of survival when she was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 15.

Since then Cartwright has gone on to become one of the world's top Paralympic stars and claimed two golds at the Christchurch 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Athletics Championships in January in the 100 metre T42 sprint and F42 long jump – setting a world record of 4.19 metres on her way to victory in the latter event.

But Cartwright experienced problems with her stump leading up to World Championships and felt pain in the area even after the event so she went to Germany to seek expert advice from London 2012 Paralympic-only sponsor Otto Bock who are also the Official Prosthetic, Orthotic and Wheelchair Technical Services Provider for the Paralympic Games.

Cartwright received a new socket for her prosthetic leg in Germany and following the treatment, she is hopeful she can go on to victory at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford next year.

"I've been seeing different doctors and trying different sockets out, so training for me hasn't been as consistent as I wish it would have been," said Cartwright, who holds a part-time administrative job with Australia's ABC TV.

"For me, to change the whole leg, the knee and the socket, it's going to take at least a couple of months to get used to it.

"It is like learning something brand new.

"You feel like it's not the best at the start but you've just got to learn and get through it and train on it and if I can do that, I can hopefully secure gold in London."

Cartwright recently moved to Melbourne in Australia to step up her training for London 2012 which will be her second appearance at the world's biggest Paralympic sporting event.

Cartwright made her international debut at Beijing 2008 where she finished sixth in the 100m T42 but her double gold medal winning performance at the World Championships in New Zealand confirmed her as status as favourite for victory in London, particularly in her specialist event the long jump following her world record in Christchurch.

"I couldn't have asked for a better jump at the World Championships," Cartwright said.

"I would have liked to get two world records [in the 100m T42 event as well as long jump F42] but I was in the hospital only months before that, so only had a few months' preparation.

"But I'm over the moon with how I did and I'm hoping for a repeat at the Paralympics next year."

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