Graeme Souness has completed his mammoth swim across the English Channel to raise £1million for charity.
The football pundit, who made his name as a Liverpool legend, took on the challenge after meeting, Isla Grist, who suffers from the rare skin disease Epidermolysis bullosa.
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The 14-year-old, from Inverness, has had the condition since birth which is commonly described as ‘butterfly skin’, which leaves her wrapped from head to toe in bandages which are changed three times a week in a procedure that is extremely painful to her.
Souness has previously described it as ‘the cruellest disease out there’.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “This disease… it’s the cruellest, nastiest disease. For someone so young to be so brave… and Isla’s aware of the impact this has on her mum and dad and she helps them.
“This is a very special young lady you’re in the company of, she really is, and I am… she gets me in tears every time I’m in her company.”
Setting out to raise £1.1million for Debra UK, a charity that raises money for those with the condition, the former talkSPORT pundit joined Isla’s father and four other team members to complete the 21-mile swim.
Impressively, they managed to do it in 12 hours and 17 minutes.
Taking to Twitter, Debra UK wrote: “21 miles, completed it!
“A huge thank you to Graeme, Andy, Sean, Steph, Rob and Andy M for taking on this challenge to help #StopThePain for people living with EB.”
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