SCHOOLCHILDREN will be able to become bone marrow donors from Monday following a campaign by the family of a late Examiner reporter.

Adrian Sudbury died of leukaemia in 2008, aged just 27.

Since his death, the journalist’s family have carried on the fight to increase young people’s knowledge about bone marrow transplants.

And now the Anthony Nolan Trust has made it easier for young people to get on the register by dropping its entry age from 18 to 16.

The charity is the first organisation in the world to offer 16-year-olds the chance to volunteer to become a life-saving bone marrow donor.

Adrian’s father Keith said the change would make it easier for the trust to sign up new members from its Register and Be a Lifesaver sessions, which take place in schools and colleges across the country.

“Previously, those wishing to join the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register had to wait until they were 18. It’s so good that 16 and 17-year-olds can now join the marrow register, as it harnesses the momentum generated by the presentations,” he said.

The first 16-year-old members will sign up on Monday at a special event at National Church of England Academy in Hucknall in Adrian’s home county of Nottinghamshire.

Headteacher Dr John Edwards said: “It’s great that our young people wish to support this excellent cause. Anthony Nolan does excellent work, and this issue has touched the lives of many of us, including several in our school community.”

Register and Be a Lifesaver was launched in March 2009.

Since then, volunteers have taught nearly 64,000 young people the facts about blood, organ and bone marrow donation, through 1,110 presentations given in 376 schools across the country.

As a result, nearly 5,500 young people have signed up to give blood, while nearly 1,500 have joined the organ donor register.

Anthony Nolan chief executive Henny Braund said that dropping the entry age to 16 would save lives.

“Lives are lost if there is a delay when someone from the register is matched with a blood cancer patient,” he said.

“We regularly discover that older donors can no longer donate because they have developed conditions like heart disease or diabetes. This means we have to start the search all over again, prolonging the agonising wait for a patient who may die if a match can’t be found.

“We are boosting the size of the register but reducing the average age of potential donors to ensure doctors can pick the healthiest matches.”

Anyone aged between 16 and 30 can join the register. For more information visit www.anthonynolan.org/register.

Adrian started work at the Express and Chronicle Series in 2003, moving to the Examiner three years later.

In November 2006 he was promoted to the position of digital journalist, with responsibility for the Examiner website. But just two days into his new job he became seriously ill.

A week later he drove himself to A&E in Sheffield and was eventually diagnosed with leukaemia.

Adrian went on working, keeping an online diary of his condition, known as Baldy’s Blog – a reference to the hair loss caused by his treatment.

In May 2007 he received a bone marrow transplant from a 30-year-old German woman he had never met.

The operation failed to beat the leukaemia but Adrian spent his remaining year of life campaigning for greater knowledge of bone marrow transplant, meeting then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Downing Street and appearing on numerous TV and radio programmes nationally and internationally.

He passed away at his parents’ home outside Mansfield on August 20, 2008.

THE campaign started by Examiner reporter Adrian Sudbury has reached a new peak – and it’s all thanks to his family.

Adrian was terminally ill with leukaemia when had the visionary idea and steely determination to increase young people’s knowledge about bone marrow transplants.

Before his death in 2008 he took his campaign right to the top with a face-to-face meeting with then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Since we lost Adrian his family have tirelessly continued the campaign and since March 2009 Register and Be a Lifesaver presentations about being a bone marrow donor have been staged in schools. Since March 2009 nearly 5,500 young people have signed up to give blood while nearly 1,500 have joined the organ donor register.

But there was a feeling that many potential donors were slipping through the net as the teenagers could not sign up on the register until they were 18.

It was felt that time gap had to go so youngsters could listen to the presentation and then act immediately to sign on to the register.

The result is simple. The more names on the register the more lives that can be saved.

This means the Anthony Nolan Trust is now the first organisation in the world to offer 16-year-olds the chance to volunteer to become a life-saving bone marrow donor.

Another first and another testament to the Adrian’s brilliance – a true campaigning journalist right to the end.

The first 16-year-old members will sign up on Monday at a special event in Adrian’s home county of Nottinghamshire.

Let’s hope names from Huddersfield soon join them as that would be the greatest tribute anyone could pay to Adrian’s memory.