THE father of former Huddersfield journalist Adrian Sudbury is continuing his son’s campaign about organ donation.
Keith Sudbury will be at Mansfield’s King’s Mill Hospital next Tuesday to highlight the importance of organ donation.
Adrian Sudbury, 27, who died in 2008, documented his fight against the illness online through Baldy’s Blog and set up his own campaign ‘Register and Be a Lifesaver’ to educate more folk about all forms of donation.
Now his legacy lives on through his father, who lives in Pinxton, Nottinghamshire. He will use Tuesday’s event to talk to the public about organ donation and how it works.
Keith said: “A few months into his illness Adrian did undergo a bone marrow transplant in the hope it would beat his leukaemia.
“But unfortunately after a year his body rejected the new tissue. Adrian then made it his mission in his remaining days to educate more people about the importance of all forms of donation.
“My son even set up his own campaign ‘Register and Be a Lifesaver’, which was backed by the previous Prime Minister Gordon Brown and is now part of the work carried out by the Anthony Nolan Trust.
“Now I am continuing Adrian’s work to make more people aware of donation and the importance of becoming a donor.”
Dr Paul Smith, Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s clinical lead for organ donation, welcomed the move.
Dr Smith said: “There are currently more than 10,000 people who need an organ transplant in the UK, with three dying each day on average in the UK.
“We know it is not going to be easy – most do not really think about it – but the amount of people we can help by pushing the issue makes every effort worthwhile.”
