I am running the Great North Run (13 miles) in September 2025 with my younger brother. Our combined age is 107!! This will be his first half marathon race and my first Great North Run.

We are not running for a time but just the chance to do something together and also support DEBRA which is the national charity supporting those directly affected by, and working with, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) – a potentially fatal skin condition that causes constant pain due to unstoppable internal and external blistering. DEBRA provides lifelong care and support to the entire EB community.

Together we #FightEB and together we will beat EB.

Your support will help people like Isla Grist who you may have seen on the BBC. Here are some details and a link to the full story from her dad:

Isla was born with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), her skin is very fragile, both all the parts you can see and the linings of her mouth, throat, stomach and rest of the inside of her body.

- There is nothing currently to stop EB

- Isla has already had over 60 operations!, under general anaesthetic, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, 60!

- She is often courageous and stoic beyond words, yet always kind and thoughtful to others who are usually far more fortunate than her.

- Daily routines of applying creams and specialist dressings

- Strong painkillers administered

- Isla wants what we all want: a life free of pain. A life free of the fear that EB will continue to devastate her increasingly fragile body.

https://www.debra.org.uk/islas-story/