Former international footballer, manager and Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness is swimming the English Channel for charity this summer.
Graeme is aiming to raise £1.1million to stop the pain of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) when he takes on the challenge next month.
His good friend, 14-year-old Isla Grist, is living with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and has made a deep impression on Graeme.
He explained: “From the time I have spent with Isla and her family, I have seen first-hand the extreme pain this devastating condition causes and the daily challenges it creates for them.
“I wanted to do something that could make a difference to Isla’s life and to the lives of so many others living with EB and the slightly crazy idea of swimming the English Channel was suggested.
“Now I’m not one to walk away from a challenge but this is all new to me; despite living by the sea for the past 16 years, I’ve never been in it, and Isla is the only reason I did.
“Alongside Isla’s dad, Andy, and the rest of the team, I am determined to complete the Channel crossing, to raise awareness of EB, and to raise the funds that DEBRA so desperately needs.
“Please support me, every pound raised gets us one step closer to a world where no one suffers with the pain of EB”.
The money raised from Graeme’s swim will go to DEBRA, the butterfly skin charity, , to clinically test drugs already available within the NHS that could radically improve quality of life for people living with EB.
You can sponsor Graeme and the team’s English Channel swim here.
The football legend, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, will be taking to the water on Sunday, June 18.
It is estimated the swim could take up to 16 hours, as he aims to raise £1.1million for the charity, symbolic of his former number 11 jersey.
EB is a rare and incredibly painful genetic skin blistering condition affecting an estimated 5,000 people in the UK and 500,000 globally.
It causes the skin to blister and tear at the slightest touch and can affect the hands and feet only or in the most severe cases any part of the body, including blistering on the eyes and internal organs.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel