BBC Breakfast Interview With Graeme Souness, Isla, and Andy Grist, on Swimming the Channel for DEBRA

Football legend, and TV pundit, Graeme Souness, is playing his part to stop the pain of EB this summer by swimming the English Channel!

Graeme, who has faced many a foe during his sporting career, will be taking on the formidable 21-mile stretch of water that lies between Dover and Calais. Although Graeme won’t be on his own (he’ll be part of a 6-person team), he’ll still need all his physical and mental strength and the support of as many people back home as possible to get him to the shores of France, in a swim that could take up to 16 hours!

The motivation for Graeme to do the swim and play his part is personal. Graeme’s good friend is Isla Grist, 14, who is living with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, Graeme explains more:

“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”.