During his short life, the journalist Adrian Sudbury used his popular Baldy's Blog to raise awareness about donating bone marrow, blood and organs. Now, a year after the Huddersfield Examiner reporter's death at 27 from leukaemia, his family are hoping the educational campaign he launched can build on a successful trial earlier this year to transform the system of organ donation across the country.
The aim of the Register and Be a Lifesaver (R&B) campaign is simple: to go into schools to tell young people how easy it can be to register as a donor.
After the trial in South Yorkshire and Bristol, which reached 3,250 students and was independently assessed as a success and "outstanding" value for money at £80,000, the campaign's organisers now want to take it into new areas - first into Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Liverpool, and then, if possible, to half the country over the next three years. But it will cost money for the campaign, which is run by the Anthony Nolan Trust and NHS Blood and Transplant, to train new volunteers.
"We have a costed proposal for £400,000 for the government or the private sector to fund this project for three years," says Adrian's father, Keith. "In global terms that amount of money, for a project that could be so successful, is peanuts. This is something that can really work and really save lives. I have been absolutely staggered how schools have taken it up and how students have taken it up," adds Keith, a retired headteacher. "Every school asked us to go back again to a new cohort of students."
The trial showed that the number of students who said they were willing to donate tissue more than doubled after they heard the presentations from the 65-strong "Adrian's Army" of volunteers
"Adrian wanted to educate people; he was prepared for people to say 'No, it's not for me', but to say no only when they had the facts, not in ignorance," says Keith. He will soon lobby the health secretary, Andy Burnham, and the schools secretary, Ed Balls, for fresh government support. Their departments each contributed £20,000 to the trial's cost, with the rest coming from the accountants Baker Tilly.
Anyone who wants to find out more about bone marrow, blood and organ donation and the Register and Be a Lifesaver campaign should contact the Anthony Nolan Trust at anthonynolan.org.uk.
Chris Tryhorn
