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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Stuart Macdonald & Lee Dalgetty

Edinburgh football legend Graeme Souness became atheist after seeing girl's agony

Graeme Souness has revealed meeting children with a life-limiting skin condition 'changed him as a person'.

The Scottish football legend said he became an atheist after witnessing the effects of epidermolysis bullosa (EB). He came a campaigner for those suffering with the condition, after learning of it at a charity dinner five years ago according to the Daily Record.

He said: “I am now an atheist because I cannot believe there is an almighty that would allow this to happen to one person.”

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EB – also known as “butterfly skin” – is an incurable condition that causes painful blisters and tears from any friction to the skin.

Souness, 70, is vice-­president of Debra – which supports people with EB – and has helped raise more than £500,000. He said: “It’s the most evil and cruellest of all diseases. It just robs these young people of any quality of life.”

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Souness has become close to Isla Grist, 14, and her family, of the Black Isle, near Inverness. Speaking on the Up Front podcast, he added: “My little girl, she’s not my little girl but I’ve become very close to her, Isla, and it’s like someone has taken a torch to their skin.

“It’s life-limiting for these poor children and it’s not just the sufferers but also the families who have to deal with it, which is ­traumatic to say the least. And it has changed me as a human being.”

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