Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Perth mum swims freezing waters of Loch Earn to help fight genetic disease

Susie Johnston with her godson Felix Robertson.
Susie Johnston with her godson Felix Robertson.

A Perth mum took to the freezing waters of Loch Earn to raise money to fight a fatal genetic disease suffered by her godson.

Susie Johnston swam the 10,000 metre distance on Saturday without a wetsuit and aims to raise more than £5,000 for Duchenne UK, which carries out research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The 46-year-old decided to take the plunge in recognition of the plight of her five-year-old godson, Felix Robertson.

When only two-years-old, the little boy was diagnosed with the life-shortening muscle-wasting disease, which results in loss of mobility by early teens and invariably death by the patients’ 20s.

Susie was joined in the water by 70 other brave and hardy charity swimmers who began at Lochearnhead and swam eastward through the chilly loch to emerge cold but elated at St Fillans.

Susie, who started open water swimming in her 20s when living in Sydney, Australia, and has since explored many Scottish lochs, was cheered from the lochside and met at the end by Felix and his parents, Alasdair Robertson and Robyn Pete, who travelled to the event from their Gloucestershire home.

Susie said: “My thoughts of Felix  most certainly kept me going. I’m incredibly proud that my son Angus offered to join me for the final 1,000m of the swim.

“My godson Felix is a very brave little boy and I am very grateful to all who have already supported this fundraising effort to help scientists one day find a cure for what is a terrible disease.

“Felix’s parents Alasdair and Robyn have dedicated their life to fundraising into the research to find a potential cure for this cruel disease and have already raised in excess of £100,000.

“If anyone wishes to donate to my contribution they can do so on my justgiving page and all donations will be very gratefully received.”

Susie, who is an established visual artist with a studio and gallery in Dundee, has already reached £4,454 of her £5,000 fundraising target.

Anyone wishing to donate funds should visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/susie-johnston3.