5 years ago my dad, Mikey Bells, lost his battle with a little known disease called Amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is an incurable disease that causes damage to your organs which can be slowed but ultimately leads to abnormal functioning until they fail.

My dad was diagnosed and treated at the UK NHS National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital and we have been raising money for them ever since my dad passed. A couple of years ago we held a memorial football match with teams of my dad's old friends and teammates and a team of family and friends. This allowed people to people to pay respects to him as they were unable to do at his funeral as it was during the COVID lockdown.

Now to mark the 5th year since he passed we are holding another charity football match to keep his memory alive and to raise more money for the organisation that helped him during us battle.

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Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by damaging build up of abnormal protein fibres, called amyloid, within the tissues and organs. Amyloidosis can affect any part of the body and lead to life threatening organ failure. It causes the death of about one person in every thousand and there are about 6,000 cases in the UK at any time.

Donations to the Amyloidosis Research Fund within the Royal Free Charity supports the research, development and patients of the UK NHS National Amyloidosis Centre (NAC) at the Royal Free Hospital. The Centre, established in 1999, is funded directly by NHS Specialised Services to provide diagnostic and management advisory services for all UK amyloidosis patients.

Gift Aid supports the Royal Free Charity's full range of vital support services for staff and patients across the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, as well as supporting research and innovation.