Bring in 'Adrian's law' to teach students about organ donation, calls father who lost son, 27, to leukaemia

Bring in 'Adrian's law' to teach students about organ donation, calls father who lost son, 27, to leukaemia

• You can donate blood at 17, join the Anthony Nolan register at 18 and join the NHS Organ Donor Register at any age

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 02:58 EST, 18 May 2012 UPDATED: 02:58 EST, 18 May 2012

• Comments (4)
• Share

A father who lost his son to leukaemia has called for a new law to give school and college students lessons about donating blood, organs and stem cells.

Adrian's Law would ensure every pupil over 16 would be given at least one session on becoming a donor.

It would be named after Adrian Sudbury, a 27-year-old reporter, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, who died after a two-year battle with leukaemia.

Brave: Adrian wrote a blog during his illness about his battle with cancer. He died in August 2008

His campaigning father, Keith Sudbury, has been backed by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

Mr Sudbury said: 'We urgently need more people willing to donate blood and stem cells.

'By taking this message to students aged 16 years and over we can grow the first generation of potential lifesavers who really understand what it means to donate blood, organs and stem cells.'

Although Adrian received a bone marrow transplant the cancer came back and he died in August 2008.

The Huddersfield Examiner journalist spent the last two years of his life campaigning for better education about stem cell donation.

He took a petition of 11,300 signatures to Downing Street, inspiring then Prime Minister Gordon Brown to write to celebrities to raise awareness of the campaign.

Mr Sudbury met Gordon Brown in 2008 when he took a petition of 11,300 signatures to Downing Street calling for better education on organ donations

Campaign: Adrian was a Huddersfield Examiner journalist before he fell ill

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer, such as leukaemia, according to Anthony Nolan.

There are nearly 1,600 people in the country in need of a blood stem cell transplant - usually their last chance of survival - the charity said.

Adrian, pictured in 2005 before his diagnosis with his ex-girlfriend Poppy

Nearly three-quarters of patients (70%) will not find a matching donor from within their family, it added.

Young people can donate blood at 17, join the Anthony Nolan register at 18 and join the NHS Organ Donor Register at any age.

Young people are much more likely to be selected as a match for a stem cell donation but 18 to 30-year-olds make up 12% of the register, according to Anthony Nolan.

The charity is campaigning to dramatically increase the number of young people on its register. There are 430,000 people on the register.

In memory of their son, Mr Sudbury and Adrian's mother K ay Sudbury developed a school education programme called Register And Be A Lifesaver (RBe) which Anthony Nolan delivers in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant.

For more information visit the RBe website by clicking here

• £24 for a share in Facebook: Social networking site set to...
• 'Obama was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and...
• Revealed: Trayvon Martin had DRUGS in his system the night...
• Robert Kennedy Jr's ex-wife was 'terrified' he would take...
• The ex-husband yard sale... and everything is FREE! Wife...
• Diana was a great diva, but there's only been one royal...
• Is this the best senior year quote ever? EIGHT school girls...
• Woman, 49, arrested after strolling through lumber store......
• Who says dads can't dance? Hilarious video of father and...
• Neighbours turn away THREE bleeding kids from their doorstep...
• They died side by side but were buried apart: Mystery of...
• 'She was in agony for a lot of her life': Robert Kennedy Jr...

Share this article: