Bone Marrow Donor Campaigner Dies

A journalist who petitioned Downing Street calling for better awareness of bone marrow donation has died after a battle with leukaemia.

Adrian Sudbury, from Sheffield, spent the final few months of his life campaigning to help other sufferers.

The 26-year-old was diagnosed with two types of leukaemia. A bone marrow transplant proved unsuccessful and doctors said the disease was terminal.

Mr Sudbury is understood to have died in the early hours of Wednesday.

‘Last big outing’

The Huddersfield Examiner journalist, who wrote a blog throughout his illness, was told in May that the leukaemia had returned. He decided not to have any further treatment.

He vowed to raise the profile of bone marrow donation for others to have a chance at life and throughout his campaign he met Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He lobbied MPs for better information campaigns and gathered 11,000 names for a petition calling for better education about bone marrow donation for others.

He travelled to Downing Street last month to hand over his petition to Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

Speaking at the time, he said his trip to London was likely to be his “last big outing”.