Jasmine Ritchie is 14 years old, and every morning starts the same way: fresh bandages, between three and four hours of wound care before she can get on with her day.
She was diagnosed with epidermolysis bullosa, the so-called ‘butterfly skin,’ a condition that makes her skin so fragile that any slight touch can tear it open. She spoke about it on Good Morning Britain in England without complaining: “We have to live with the pain all day, every day. We have no other choice”.
It is difficult for her even to take her pencil case out of her backpack at school, something any classmate can do in a second. Alongside her was Graeme Souness, former chairman of Liverpool and now at the helm of the DEBRA foundation, which is preparing to climb three mountains and swim in icy waters to raise funds to fight this disease. Jasmine asked for only one thing: that people understand how much it really hurts.