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Crystal Palace supporter Geoff Hill did not know he had leukaemia when visiting Selhurst Park in 2017. Here, in his own words, he tells the story from a unique home match and through a four-year battle.
The day my life changed forever began relatively normally. I say ‘relatively’ because I went for a routine blood test on my way to the office. The following series of events led to a diagnosis which cost me my health, the job I loved and my ability to make plans for the future. I am still dreaming of a way out.
It was 2017 and I was the editor of ITV News, in charge of our daily TV programmes and online content. It seems like a lifetime ago now but it was an extraordinarily busy news year, with terror attacks in Manchester and Borough Market, the snap General Election and the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower. We were constantly breaking in to ITV’s schedule with major news events. I survived on adrenalin, until I started to feel unwe
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He began his professional career in the French third-tier, before a major move to seven-times champions Lyon. After excelling on loan with Le Havre, Mateta moved to Mainz, where he established himself as a regular in the German top-flight, scoring 27 goals in 71 games in total, including a hat-trick against SC Freiburg during this campaign.
On the international stage, Mateta was part of the France side that reached the last four of the Under-21 European Championships in 2019, scoring the opening goal in the semi-final.
Upon signing with Palace, Mateta said: “I’m very happy to come to Crystal Palace and I look forward to training. Playing in the Premier League was my dream when I was a child. Now I can play, I will show the fans of Crystal Palace what I can do.”