My mother, Carol Douglas, was a Haemoglobinopathy Specialist Nurse and Counsellor at the time of her retirement having worked for the NHS for the overwhelming majority of her career. She was an integral part of the Manchester Sickle Cell Centre for many years and supported in this work by the whole family, not least her beloved husband and my father, Dennis Douglas (a man of many biological sciences and tropical medicine).

Founded by people living with Sickle Cell Disease who saw a gap in community based support, this charity was founded in 2011 and registered in 2015 not too long before my Mum retired. They do truly amazing work supporting 150+ people a year to manage their condition so they have fewer painful crisis incidents and spend less time in hospital. In their own words:

"We advocate for people who feel that their treatment was inadequate and we encourage people who have the rare blood types that people with SCD rely on to give blood. Our motto - Your Cares Are Our Cares - keeps us focussed on each person as an individual."

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These days, in addition to being a musician and musicologist, I am also a medical humanities researcher whose work involves SCD advocacy. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your generosity in supporting this charity to continue to make a difference to people who need help in ways that clinical care systems still don't always understand.