Five years after a regional daily journalist lost his battle with leukaemia, an education programme set up in his memory has seen three lives saved.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner journalist Adrian Sudbury, left, died at the age of 27 in August 2008 after a high-profile fight with leukaemia chronicled in his award-winning Baldy’s Blog.

Before his death, he began a major awareness-raising campaign about bone marrow donation, after a transplant he had was rejected by his body.

And in an interview to mark this month’s anniversary, Adrian’s father Keith Sudbury told HTFP that three lives had already been saved by transplants, as a direct result of the programme.

Since their son’s death, Keith and his wife Kay have worked tirelessly to continue Adrian’s campaign for classes on blood, organ and bone marrow transplantation to be compulsory in all UK sixth forms.

They worked with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan to set up the Register & Be A Lifesaver education programme, which has now reached more than 96,000 16 to 18-year-olds with its message, four years after it was created.

Keith Sudbury told HTFP that three students who had listened to the presentation had gone on to save lives by donating bone marrow after matches were found.

Said Keith: “We do know that the first person who donated, we believe his stem cells have saved a young girl’s life. He donated about a year ago and he is now training to be a volunteer with the programme. It is quite heart-warming.

“We are often asked about Adrian’s wonderful legacy. We say we wish we didn’t have the legacy but some people want to go down the route of grieving parents, and we will always be grieving parents, but we do this because it is such a good idea.

“We have been delighted by what has happened and I think Adrian would be very proud of what has happened in his name.”

Under the programme, volunteer presenters are trained to deliver the facts about donation to young people, allowing them to make an informed choice about whether they would like to register as potential lifesavers.

Following presentations, more than 4,300 young people have signed up as potential bone marrow donors, more than 7,400 have registered as blood donors and more than 2,300 have joined the organ donor register.

The programme aims to debunk some of the myths about bone marrow donation, and following the presentation, young people can join the register simply by giving a saliva sample.

If a match is found, in 90pc of cases a donation of blood can be used to provide the bone marrow, rather than an invasive operation.

Keith added: “As Adrian’s parents we are very proud of what has been achieved and Adrian would be absolutely delighted.

“Adrian’s wish was beautiful in its simplicity. All he wanted was to educate every 16 to 18 year old about blood, bone marrow and organ donation.

“They are then in a position to make informed decisions. Already lives have been saved. It has been wonderful to see the maturity of our young adults and how willing they have been to become involved in donation.”

Keith is a consultant with the programme and leads a team of volunteers in the Midlands and Bristol, including giving talks in schools himself.

Adrian’s mum Kay is also heavily involved with the recruitment side of the programme.

The programme currently has around 75-100 active volunteers and operates in the Midlands, Bristol, Yorkshire, Merseyside, Manchester and London, with the eventual aim to expand it so they can give presentations in schools all over the country.

The campaign to make lessons on donation compulsory for sixth-formers is also continuing and an Early Day Motion supporting this gained much cross-party support.

Katie Day, R&Be supervisor at Anthony Nolan, said: “Five years ago, nobody could have envisaged just how successful R&Be would be. None of these achievements would have been possible without the vision of an inspirational young man and the support of a truly committed team of volunteers.

“Young people are more likely to be chosen by doctors to donate bone marrow and R&Be is proving to be a fantastic way of reaching these vitally-important potential lifesavers.

“We want to continue to expand R&Be and hope that in the future, with support from the government and education sector, this will be a national education programme.”