A scheme launched by journalist Adrian Sudbury aimed at educating young people about the importance of bone marrow donation has been hailed an ‘outstanding success’ by an independent assessor.
The Register and Be a Lifesaver campaign, established shortly before the 27-year-old Huddersfield Examiner journalist died of leukaemia on 20 August last year, now hopes to become a national educational project.
The campaign, run by the Anthony Nolan Trust and NHS Blood and Transplant, was established after Sudbury secured £80,000 funding for a pilot project following a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
His legacy project has so far trained 65 volunteers to deliver seminars in sixth forms and colleges. It has so far run educational talks for 3,250 students across South Yorkshire and Bristol.
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The campaign was evaluated by Keith Egleton Company, a firm specialising in education and management consultancy, which found it to be ‘outstanding value for money’.
Sudbury rose to public prominence as the Baldy Blogger charting experience of his illness.
He spent the last few months of his life campaigning for better education and information for young people on the importance of bone marrow donation
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Henny Braund, chief executive of the Anthony Nolan Trust, said: “The next step is to secure further funding so that more volunteers can be trained and more schools and sixth forms all over the UK can get involved with this vitally important educational campaign.”
Keith Sudbury, father of Adrian, said: “It’s a big job but this very favourable independent assessment helps us build the case with Government and other potential sources of funding.
“In any event, we have had requests from 55 schools inviting volunteers to deliver the talks over the next few months. We will deliver those talks come what may.”
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