Remembering Adrian Sudbury
Adrian Sudbury, the blogging journalist who campaigned for greater awareness of the vital need for more bone marrow donations during the last months of his life, at his family home. His parents Keith and Kay Sudbury were with him when he died. throughout his treatment for leukaemia and, after that treatment proved unsuccessful, he kept writing the blog until he was unable to write. His friend Liam posted the sad news this morning on Adrian's blog. I've been reading the blog and Keith and Kay are right to feel extraordinarily proud of their young son. Adrian campaigned for greater awareness of blood disease, and called on the government to work harder in schools to recruit more bone marrow donors. A has been opened by Adrian's paper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Perhaps the best way we can all honour Adrian's campaigning spirit is to r, and to begin a serious national debate about whether it is now time to move to an ' scheme across the UK.
Comment number 1.
At 20th Aug 2008, NI Host wrote:May he rest in peace.
A fitting memorial would be an opting out scheme whereby organs are automatically taken unless otherwise stated.
In fact such a scheme is long overdue.
I registered as an organ donor some time ago and stipulated that the authorities were welcome to take anything they deemed to be of any use.
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Comment number 2.
At 20th Aug 2008, PeterKlaver wrote:Hello NI Host,
Like you, I've filled out for any still useful part of me to be recycled after I die. Honestly, who needs it after you're dead. Being organ donor by default might be a good idea.
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Comment number 3.
At 20th Aug 2008, John Wright wrote:Wow. I just read through his blog. It's sobering, to say the least. A few thoughts after reading:
1) Medical science is breathtaking accomplishment, and the free market in drug development is one of the most wonderful gems of modern life. Much incentive exists for those minds interested in and capable of advancing our ability to battle disease, and those with the wherewithal to invest in them, and it's doing humanity a huge service. (Taken to conclusion and extrapolated into the future, I begin to consider ideas too.) Don't imagine for a second that we are not living in the most favourable period of our entire human history. For the rest of the animal kingdom, this level of suffering and death is ubiquitous: we've changed our own positions for the better by learning about their causes and how to treat them. Rationality, logic, reason: our greatest assets.
2) I was expecting that his fiance would leave, and she did. It was heartwrenching for him, and I'm sure for her too. It's hard not to blame her for not sticking with him until the end, but it's also perhaps too much to ask of anyone, even in love (in spite of or because of it). I wonder what she's thinking today...? How tragic that situation.
3) His ability to blog it was a rare window into what people go through; otherwise you just always hear that they're 'sick' and there isn't much investment in the ins and outs of it. It was also a very new phenomenon; blogging hasn't been around long enough for this kind of week-by-week first-hand account to become stale or normal, so his ability to incite a spark of interest and almost shock in readers who had never read anything like it is entirely new and its ability to cut through apathy very useful (as his story confirms).
4) I don't feel bad about this, but it makes me very glad not to be him and makes me feel very good about my own position. Everything is relative, I feel very lucky and my problems - thankfully - pale in comparison. It also gives a useful perspective on our capacity to deal with illness like this, and hopefully, maybe, that's a mental investment that can stay with us for the difficulties that we'll all encounter. If Adrian Sudbury did such a remarkable job dealing with leukemia, then I can deal with.... whatever.
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