A former footballer, in remission after being diagnosed with bowel cancer, is raising £500 for King George Hospital and Queen’s Hospital after both helped him recover from the disease.

Ex-Bishop’s Stortford striker Lyndon Lynch, of Barking, has organised a “bubble” football tournament at Barking Abbey School featuring 10 teams, each of which is paying £100 to play.

The former head coach of the England Cerebral Palsy Football team was taken ill after coaching the England disability side in Spain last year. When he arrived at hospital doctors found he had just five units of blood in his body. A healthy person would have between 13 and 18.

Mr Lynch, 62, of Barking, said: “It was the hardest period of my life without a doubt. I just didn’t expect it to happen [to me] - a complete shock.

“I was whisked straight off to hospital and I had an operation last September, then I had six months of chemotherapy.”

Doctors told Mr Lynch he was in remission earlier this year.

“One of the reasons I got through it was the support of the two hospitals,” he said.

Mr Lynch would visit the bowel cancer support group once a month at King George Hospital in Barley Lane, Goodmayes, and would later receive treatment at Queen’s Hospital, Romford.

The father-of-two also had a cancerous tumour removed at King George Hospital.

He decided to help raise funds for the hospitals after hearing the support group had been closed down because it had to pay rent to remain on the site.

“I got to meet people who were going through my experience,” he said. “It was not only encouraging for me, but inspirational, too.”

Ten teams will contest the bubble football tournament on June 14, hosted by East London Leisure Trust, of which Mr Lynch is a director.

“We wanted people to come down and have fun,” said Mr Lynch. “We have been inundated with applications from teams.”

The money raised will be split between the hospitals and £500 will be donated to charity Cancer Research.

Mr Lynch hopes the money raised will keep the support group going for another five months.

The tournament will take place at the upper school at Barking Abbey School, in Sandringham Road, Barking, from 1pm to 5pm.

Please e-mail nanafrimpong99@yahoo.co.uk