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Final weeks for dying leukaemia reporter

Huddersfield Daily Examiner reporter Adrian Sudbury says he now may only have two weeks to live.

The leukaemia sufferer says his condition is causing so much pain that he has decided to come off all the drugs he is currently taking.

Doctors have told the 27-year-old that doing so is likely to bring his life expectancy down from around six weeks to two or three.

On his award-winning Baldy’s Blog, Adrian writes: “I asked my consultant what he felt was his aim for life expectancy on this management regime and he said the end of summer early autumn.

“I replied I didn’t want to go on like this for that period of time and asked about my options.

“Basically, he said if I decided to come off all my tablets it would bring that life expectancy down from say six weeks to two or three. For me, that was an easy call to make.

“So on Monday my family and I are meeting up with my excellent GP, district nursing and Macmillan nursing teams, to discuss a plan of action while I am still sound of mind.”

Adrian was diagnosed in November 2006 with two different types of leukaemia running at the same time.

According to medical literature, he was the only person in the world to have such a condition.

Since deciding not to undergo further chemotherapy in May after the leukaemia returned, Adrian’s condition has got progressively worse.

He added that he was now planning two funerals – an intimate family affair and a larger one at Sheffield Cathedral to which everyone is invited.

In recent weeks Adrian has been campaigning for compulsory lessons on bone marrow donation to be included in the curriculum for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Last week he delivered an 11,000-strong signature supporting his campaign to Downing Street.

He has also been discussing his favourite music in a Desert Island Discs-style show on Radio Sheffield.