CAMPAIGNING journalist Adrian Sudbury’s dream began to become reality today.
After being diagnosed with terminal leukaemia last May, Adrian campaigned for all students in schools and colleges to be educated about bone marrow donation.
Adrian, 27, who died last August, was granted an extra year of life through a bone marrow transplant and wanted to raise awareness and encourage more donors.
Today, the first set of volunteers are being trained in Birmingham to spread Adrian’s message.
During Adrian’s campaign, hundreds offered to be volunteer speakers in schools.
Training days at Sheffield on March 14 and London on March 28 will also take place.
The events are part of a pilot project to get speakers into schools and colleges to talk about donation.
The pilot will take place in Bristol and Sheffield, where Adrian lived.
If it is a success, the scheme could be rolled out across the country.
The pilot is being run by the Anthony Nolan Trust, which runs one of the UK’s two bone marrow donor registers, alongside NHS Blood and UK Transplant.
It has been funded with £40,000 from the Government and £40,000 from Baker Tilly, an auditing firm which is hosting today’s event and which supports the Trust.
