They braved Dubai’s heat and jellyfish in the name of charity…

On Friday morning, while most of Dubai was cloistered away indoors escaping the heat, two Egyptian-Irish brothers, Sherif and Omar Saadawi, braved the elements for charity.

Their goal? To swim around the Palm Jumeirah in order to raise awareness and money for diabetes research.

Speaking to the National about how diabetes had personally affected their family Saadawi said: “It is a cause that is very close to my heart. My grandfather died due to an illness linked to diabetes. My wife’s uncle, who had diabetes, died due to a cardiac arrest almost a year ago. They were too young to die.”

To complete the 10km swim around the Palm, the brothers set off at 5am, while the weather was marginally cooler, and took a total of four hours to complete the challenging swim.

Aside from the blistering summer heat, they faced other difficulties including the overall distance, the temperature of the water and Omar was even stung by a jellyfish in the process.

Funds raised by the brothers will go to the Al Jalila Foundation to help conduct research into the prevention and treatment of diabetes and other diseases such as cancers, obesity and cardiovascular ailments.

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Images: Getty