Funds raised have surpassed well over £1.2 million.
On the morning of June 18th, Graeme Souness, Andy Grist and the rest of the team completed their English Channel swim. Andy is the father of Isla, 14, who is living with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Graeme has become good friends with Isla, and she was the inspiration behind the team taking on their challenge. On June 22nd, Isla even won the Pride of Scotland ‘Teenager of Courage’ award.
The DEBRA UK team on French shores
Graeme set a lofty target of raising £1.1 million from the Channel swim, which has now easily been surpassed with well over £1.2 million raised. This has given a huge boost to DEBRA UK’s A Life Free of Pain appeal, as we are now 68% of the way towards our £5 million target for 2023.
To go along with this fundraising, a tremendous amount of awareness of EB and DEBRA UK has been raised over the last few weeks. We have had increased social media attention, press coverage, and various TV appearances on high-profile shows such as BBC Breakfast and This Morning.
This coverage has also helped more people living with EB discover DEBRA UK, creating a 50% increase in new members joining. Lastly, the day after the DEBRA UK swim team reached the shores of France, we also held an evening reception at the House of Commons to raise awareness of EB and the need for government support to find effective drug treatments.