DEBRA UK Challenge 2024

“Double the distance plus more, will you join Team DEBRA and BE the difference for EB?”

Last June, football legend and DEBRA UK Vice President Graeme Souness CBE, alongside the swim team, took on the DEBRA UK swim challenge and swam the 30-mile stretch of water that lies between Dover and Calais. Their motivation was Isla Grist, 16, who lives with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Graeme and the swim team made it to the shores of France and completed the English Channel swim in a speedy 12 hours 17 minutes! That wasn’t enough for Graeme though, and in his words, “we must do more”. So, this September, Team DEBRA are taking on an even bigger challenge to 'BE the difference for EB.'

Graeme explains more:

“There is still so much more that we need to do for people living with the excruciating pain of EB, which is why we’re getting the team back together.

As a team, we’re going to push ourselves even further this time and swim twice as far, swimming the English Channel there and back, and then cycling 85 miles from Dover to London!

Last year was tough, this year is going to be even tougher.

I will be taking on the cycling challenge, and I despise cycling! I’m not built for it, but I’ve been working hard. Each time I get on that bike, I have Isla on my mind. I’ve spent a lot of time with her recently and each time I see her I’m reminded of why I’m doing another challenge. Isla lives with the excruciating pain and itch from EB daily.

This challenge us in support of DEBRA UK’s 2024 'BE the difference for EB' appeal. With your help, DEBRA UK can continue to invest in drug repurposing clinical trials. Clinical trials are so important to ensure that in the future there is an effective drug treatment for every type of EB. Your support will also enable DEBRA UK to provide an enhanced programme of EB community support. This is vital to improve quality of life for people like Isla, living with EB today.
 
So, please join us, please sponsor me and the team, or set up your own fundraiser, you could even do your own sponsored swimathon with a length of the pool for every mile the team will be taking on in the English Channel, or is there anything else that’s a little different or ‘out there’ to support people living with EB?
 
We need everyone to play their part to BE the difference for EB; this is not a fight we can win alone.
 
Thank you”.