May 2008 Archives

"Adrian, we heard about your story and wondered if we could get you on the show to talk about the campaign."
- Sure, no problem. When were you thinking?
"Monday, 8pm, we will arrange a car to take you to a studio in Leeds."
- Sounds good. Out of interest where will this show be aired?
"We go out live across north America, western Europe, much of the Middle East and south east Asia. At that time slot we tend to get viewing figures of around 140 million, but we think it's closer to 170 million."
-OK.

All I am trying to achieve is the following:

A 40 minute talk to all second year sixth form students about why it is important to think about donating blood, bone marrow and organs.

If you think this is a good idea please click here to sign a Downing Street Petition which is available to be signed by all UK residents.

I think a healthy discussion about all these issues, where our young adults are given all the facts and are able to engage in a debate, will be of benefit to many.

I don't believe anyone should be forced to do anything they feel uncomfortable with.

But it's only right that people should be able to make an informed choice either way.

I think it's fair to say that went pretty well.

This is what I set out to achieve - the introduction of a 40 minute talk to 17/18 year olds about blood, bone marrow and organ donation.

I firmly believe that if our young adults are given all the facts about these important issues many more will go on to become donors themselves.

Backed by the Huddersfield Examiner and local MP Kali Mountford I honestly believe this can happen.

While I was in London the Anthony Nolan Trust told me the numbers waiting for bone marrow transplants had actually increased.

They are currently trying to find matches for 16,000 requests, mainly from the UK, but also for patients around the world.

Without matches these people will die.

As well as meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss this idea, I was also able to chat with the Health Secretary Alan Johnson and Education Secretary Ed Balls.

I must say a big thank you to Kali. Her desire to help and to actually arrange these meetings was incredible and I am hugely grateful for all her considerable efforts.

This then is the story of a crazy couple of days and me being an outrageous media whore.

Hi guys, Adrian is awfully busy at the moment. So busy in fact that he's cropping up all over the place. So we can keep track on what he is up to I will try and link to as many videos and stories about Adrian as possible. Please contact me by email (liam.mcneilis@liverpool.com) if I miss any out or you know of a website which has a story about Adrian on it.

Best Wishes
Liam

Sign the petition to change education policy to require schools/colleges/other institutions to educate students about bone marrow donation on the Downing Street Website here.

Sign up for Sudders Campaign - Huddersfield Examiner

Leukaemia sufferer meets PM - BBC News
'You're saving someone's life' - BBC News
Fighting to the death for donors - BBC News

Thanks to Mark Waddington from ITV Local for pointing out this video by Julie Lockwood
Adrian Sudbury takes his campaign to the top - ITV Local

Reporter's tragic story of his own battle with cancer - Mirror.co.uk
Ex-Mersey student's dying plea to PM for donor mission plan - Liverpool Daily Post

PM Meeting was productive - Press Association

Blogging his last days - NBC News

This was sent in by Cheryl Thompson of Notts County Football Club, cheers Cheryl
Notts Supporting Bone Marrow Mission - Notts County Football Club

Just got a few more sent in by Julie Gelder, so cheers for the email Julie

Following Adrian's Journey - Five News
Terminally ill man's mission to Downing Street - The Yorkshire Star
Adrian Sudbury: One Last Mission Before I Die - Sky News

Anna has just contacted me about thread she created on Photoshopcontest.com, so big thanks for the coverage Anna
PSC Bone Marrow Testing Thread (fka Baldy's Blog Forwarded) - Photoshopcontest.com

Tamlyn Jones from Holdthefrontpage has just contacted me. Holdthefrontpage is a website for journalists and journalism students everywhere and Adrian has quite a few articles devoted to him. Here are some of them, cheers Tamlyn:
Reporter's dying mission backed by sister newspaper titles across the UK - Holdthefrontpage
Journalist's "months to live" fear as relapse takes hold - Holdthefrontpage
Setback in leukaemia battle for Examiner reporter - Holdthefrontpage

Cheers to Cath for pointing out this ITN article
Dying journalist's bone marrow bid - ITN

Adrian appeared over on the renowned blog Boing Boing
Journo's last wish is more marrow donors - Boing Boing

The wonderful Cheryl Thompson of Notts County Football Club, strikes again and has pointed out this feature from the Nottingham Evening Post.
BONE MARROW CAMPAIGN GOES TO THE TOP - This is Nottingham

Cheers to Claire Bates for pointing out her articles from the Daily Mail
Terminally ill journalist, 26, vows to fight for bone marrow education before he dies - Daily Mail

Another great story has appeared on the ACLT charity's website. The ACLT charity works to promote awareness of Bone Marrow and Blood Donation (in other words right up our street) and I was contacted by Beverley De-Gale the co-founder of the charity. Cheers Beverley!
The dying wish of brave journalist Adrian Sudbury - ACLT

This is a video of Adrian meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss his Leukemia campaign. I'm posting it on his behalf, as he has been very busy the past few days trying to arrange this.

Regards Liam

Here is the Directors Cut extended version of the video

I have one last little mission before I die.

I'm determined to try and educate more people about what it is like to be a bone marrow donor.

There are still 7,000 people - children and adults in the UK alone - who are waiting to find a match.

Without your help they have no hope.

At least I was given a chance.

The problem is people think it is some horrific procedure and I want to show as many people as possible that it is not like that.

Apparently, the Germans have one of the world's best marrow registers. All they do is educate their sixth form students about why it's important to donate blood, bone marrow and how you do it.

Why can't we do that here?

This is a video showing how around 75% of all bone marrow donation is carried out these days.

In the rapping words of Craig David: "RE-EE-Lapse".

After everything we have been through together I am so sorry to break the following news to you all.

The leukaemia has reappeared in the bone marrow and I have only got weeks or months to live.

In the end I decided to have no further intensive treatment.

And so begins a potentially difficult week.

In a few hours I will have a crucial bone marrow sample taken.

The results, which we are hoping to learn on Wednesday or Thursday, will show one of two things.

1. This relapse can be controlled by drugs.
2. I will have to choose whether to have further intensive treatment or not.

Not a particularly pleasant set of circumstances but on the plus side I did have an excellent weekend.

I'm hoping today that the doctors don't ask me how many units of alcohol I've consumed because I will clearly have to lie.

I thought nothing could shock me after everything I have been through in the last 18 months.

Then I finally got the news today from my most recent bone marrow sample.

Please bear in mind this test was carried out before I went mental and stopped taking my pills.

At that stage I was taking the drug Glivec which should be effective against the chronic/strange form of the disease.

But, as regular readers will know from my weekly whinges, I have also had that post transplant complication known as Graft versus Host Disease.

Collectively, these bad boys should have stopped any leukaemia from returning.

Well today was a bit of a shocker to say the least.

How many times can someone get kicked in the head and keep picking themselves up?

This latest blow has well and truly floored me. I've tried my best to turn this situation around, carry on with work, and see my friends, but I just can't do it.

Now before I drown you all with my unrelenting misery I'd like to say thank you to all the new readers and the people who have taken the time to comment.

As you can see from previous posts I really think it's important that I should reply to people who have given their time to support me and wish me well.