Posthumous award for brave Examiner journalist Adrian Sudbury

Nov 7 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Adrian’s efforts have already resulted in education packs about donation going out to every school and college in England, with a letter from Health Secretary Alan Johnson and Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, asking teachers to deliver the resource to their students.

There is also the possibility of a national public information campaign about bone marrow donation and the chance that Government-funded pilot education programmes about the topic could take place in schools.

As part of Adrian’s campaign he met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and handed in an 11,000-signature petition at 10 Downing Street in support of his plea for better education about bone marrow donation.

The campaign attracted a huge amount of support, partly thanks to his online diary, Baldy’s Blog, which he began shortly after being diagnosed with two types of leukaemia in November, 2006.

The honest and humorous blog chronicled the course of his illness and won him a clutch of awards, including multi-media journalist of the year in this year’s Press Gazette Awards.

Adrian was one of eight young people recognised at the Yorkshire Young Achiever Awards, which celebrated the depth and breadth of achievement across the region.