I have stents inside stents and my heart doc is not thrilled by latest Channel swim

Legend won't let scare halt 'butterfly skin' fundraiser

- MARC BAKER

FOOTBALL fans will be cheering the return of Scotland, Rangers and Liverpool legend Graeme Souness next month when he again tackles the chilly waters of the Channel.

Aged 71 and just months after emergency heart surgery, his idea of rehabilitation is swimming to France and back in a 60-mile relay.

He was inspired by the courage of pal Isla Grist, 16, who has the debilitating condition epidermolysis bullosa.

Known as "butterfly skin" as it so fragile, it causes skin to tear and blister.

In 2023, Graeme swam from Dover to Calais as part of a relay team and raised £1.5million for DEBRA, the EB charity.

Aiming to raise £5million with his new challenge on May 1, he told us: "These children have no quality of life. And the impact on the families, I certainly couldn't begin to imagine it.

"We're in a war and this is just the beginning. As long as they [DEBRA] want me to keep involved, I will be involved to make sure this thing exists until ultimately a cure is found.

"I am in this until the end as this disease is so cruel."

Graeme had two stents fitted inside existing ones in one of his coronary arteries after chest pains last year.

But the former Sky Sports pundit admits his cardiologist, Suneel Talwar, is less enthusiastic about his fundraiser.

Graeme said: "My cardiologist is not terribly thrilled but I do feel fitter than I did it last time.

"My cardiologist has looked after me for 15 years and I'm in great hands.

"What I have to stay away from is things like playing squash or tennis."

Graeme had a triple heart bypass in 1992 after being diagnosed with coronary heart disease aged 38, when he was the Liverpool manager.