Business leaders and tech pioneers were among a team of 22 Irish women that braved the wilds of the Arctic Circle to raise €120,000 for Debra Ireland.
The charity works with children living with the painful genetic skin condition EB (epidermolysis bullosa). It affects about one in 18,000 babies in the Republic.
Young people with the condition are often referred to as butterfly children because of their fragile skin, which causes painful sores and blistering.
Debra Ireland helps about 300 EB patients, offering support services and paediatric nursing care. While there is no cure for the condition, research and clinical trials are being undertaken worldwide into developing treatments.
Excellence Ireland Quality Association managing director Irene Collins said it was "a privilege to be among such an amazing and interesting group of women".
“When times got tough . . . and they often did, I thought of the children who are living with EB,” she said. “This challenge was for them. We need to create awareness of EB and the painful and debilitating disease that it is.”
